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Guillemot Family Agrees To Sell Gameloft Shares To Vivendi
A week after Vivendi cemented its hostile takeover, Gameloft’s founders are preparing to sell their remaining control. The Guillemot family, which also founded Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft, is ready to leave the mobile publisher behind.
“The family maintains that Vivendi’s hostile approach goes against the best interest of Gameloft, both for its activity and for its teams,” the Guillemot family said in a comment reported by the Wall Street Journal. The sell-off would amount to 21.7 percent of the company.
Last week, Vivendi declared victory after securing approximately 56 percent of Gameloft voting shares. In a letter sent to staff last week, Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot said he is planning to leave on June 29 after the annual shareholders meeting.
Attention now turns to Ubisoft, where Vivendi is also increasing its control. For more on the Vivendi takeover and what this means for Ubisoft, you can read up in our explainer.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
Our Take
With the battle lost, this allows the Guillemot family to focus on protecting Ubisoft with added capital. Whether Vivendi’s Ubisoft purchases were intended to force the Gameloft issue or if the company will make a serious play is something we’re likely to see develop in the coming months.
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