The soap opera over Ubisoft’s financial crisis took a new twist today. A new report from Bloomberg claims that the Guillemot family, the company’s founders and majority shareholders, are in talks with the company’s other major shareholder, Chinese giant Tencent, to increase the value of the French company. Although this would be quite drastic from the users’ point of view.
Both companies would be looking to create a new company, using selected assets of the current Ubisoft (i.e. staff, offices, studios and IPs) to relaunch and create a growth strategy for Tencent outside China.
Such a deal would give Tencent more control over Ubisoft’s intellectual property, as well as a major step in its expansion outside the China market. The Guillemots, on the other hand, would also secure their control over existing assets from minority shareholders. Tencent and the Guillemot family held 25.4% of Ubisoft’s share capital and 29.6% of the voting rights as of 31 March, Ubisoft’s annual report shows.
For the time being, both parties have declined to make statements, and Bloomberg reports that its sources have preferred to remain anonymous, as the negotiation is still ongoing.
Can you imagine a future with a new gaming giant born from the ashes of the current Ubisoft?