Vivendi trying to get rid of Activision shares

[Lazy Gecko]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/07/vive...hares-june-22/

One can only speculate why they'd sell off such a money maker. Perhaps they predict CoD sales have peaked and it's better to sell while they're still riding high. I have no idea if Blizzard would be part of the split or if they're still owned by Vivendi.

[Darsithis]

Moved to Off-Topic

[Caiada]

It doesn't mean much of anything for the average person. It's just a business move because Vivendi needs money.

[Deleted]

"Trying to get rid of" might be an overstatement. Still, Vivendi stock is at a nine year low while Activision is holding reasonably well, but it is volatile. And there are massive doubts about the videogame industry; checked the performance of Sony, EA or Nintendo lately?

[oplawlz]

Haha, EA would be the true wow killer.
"Blizzard retains full independance!" --- a month later; "you must now provide a full retinal scan every time you log into wow to prove you are the original owner. The retinal scan equipment can be purchased through origin for only 5 million sim points."

[Trassk]

World of warcraft is a self sustaining product, they don't need to worry about who owns it as long as blizzard are tied to it.

[Karizee]

The news is having a negative affect on their stock which I guess is to be expected.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11572...o&cm_ven=YAHOO

Activision Blizzard shares fell over 6% in early trading on Thursday but the decline was halved to 3% in mid-morning, higher than usual volume, trading. After reaching a post-crisis peak of $14.40 a share in November, Activision shares have fallen and are now down nearly 4% year-to-date, recently trading at $11.70.

Of course the big question is, who would buy it?

[Deficineiron]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/07/vive...hares-june-22/

One can only speculate why they'd sell off such a money maker. Perhaps they predict CoD sales have peaked and it's better to sell while they're still riding high. I have no idea if Blizzard would be part of the split or if they're still owned by Vivendi.

blizzard is part of a/b no matter what vivendi does with their stock.

presumably they are trying to raise cash - who has or can raise the cash to actually pay for this? cannot be too many companies. worst cace I guess vivendi could do an offering but I am sure that is the last thing they want to do.

as far as how it impacts blizzard - if you subscribe to the view that the merger into atvi didn't have the slightest impact on wow despite changing the mgmt team to which bliz reports to the former atvi team (kotick), then there is no reason to think this is any different.

[Reg]

I can't see any other publisher buying Activision-Blizzard. If anything, I could see Activision-Blizzard buying themselves.

What I am really wondering is what Vivendi is trying to free up cash for. They sold their stake in NBC Universal to Comcast last year too. Maybe just streamlining the company? They've always been a huge media company, so I wonder what the motive is behind the moves.

[Korru]

Let's see EA, Sony, Microsoft...

oh lord we are screwed...

[Reg]

Haha, EA would be the true wow killer.
"Blizzard retains full independance!" --- a month later; "you must now provide a full retinal scan every time you log into wow to prove you are the original owner. The retinal scan equipment can be purchased through origin for only 5 million sim points."

Will never happen. Government wouldn't allow it.

[shadowmatrix]

http://www.vg247.com/2012/06/07/vive...hares-june-22/

One can only speculate why they'd sell off such a money maker. Perhaps they predict CoD sales have peaked and it's better to sell while they're still riding high. I have no idea if Blizzard would be part of the split or if they're still owned by Vivendi.

Blizzard is still owned by Vivendi.

[Deficineiron]

Let's see EA, Sony, Microsoft...

oh lord we are screwed...

I shuddered. their internal game company made the most dull games last I tried one. Bring the flavor of cardboard to wow!

---------- Post added 2012-06-07 at 07:18 PM ----------

Blizzard is still owned by Vivendi.

false. blizzard is a wholly-owned subsidiary of activision-blizzard. Activision-blizzard is a publicly traded company in which vivendi holds a 61% stake.

[Hobb]

I can't see any other publisher buying Activision-Blizzard. If anything, I could see Activision-Blizzard buying themselves.

What I am really wondering is what Vivendi is trying to free up cash for. They sold their stake in NBC Universal to Comcast last year too. Maybe just streamlining the company? They've always been a huge media company, so I wonder what the motive is behind the moves.

It has to do with the value of the company's share price. Vivendi's media portion of the company is very profitable while their Activision-Blizzard portion not so much and has been dragging down the company's value for quite some time.

I'm surprised though that they decided to go with this move, because originally they were looking at splitting Vivendi into two separate companies to increase the value of their media portion while still retaining Activision-Blizzard. Looks like now they're just wanting to unload it and take a lost.

Source: Vivendi thinking of splitting into two http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...y-breakup.html

I'm pretty sure if Activision had to do the merger over again with Blizzard they wouldn't. Last shareholder's report showed the Activision side of the company earning over double the revenue than the Blizzard side. It also showed Activision's profit margin increasing from it's previous year's margin while Blizzard's profit margin showed a 25% decrease from it's previous year.

Source: On page 7 - http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...11AR_FINAL.pdf

[huth]

false. blizzard is a wholly-owned subsidiary of activision-blizzard. Activision-blizzard is a publicly traded company in which vivendi holds a 61% stake.

As is Activision, which makes it rather annoying when people refer to Activision-Blizzard as just "Activision".

[Deleted]

I'm pretty sure if Activision had to do the merger over again with Blizzard they wouldn't. Last shareholder's report showed the Activision side of the company earning over double the revenue than the Blizzard side. It also showed Activision's profit margin increasing from it's previous year's margin while Blizzard's profit margin showed a 25% decrease from it's previous year.

Source: On page 7 - http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...11AR_FINAL.pdf

Considering Starcraft 2 was released in 2010, Cataclysm was released in 2010. Diablo was to be released in 2012, and Mists of Pandaria in 2012. I don't think you could have expected much from 2011, hardly surprising it was a low profit year since they had no releases....

Don't get me wrong, I think Blizzard is nowhere close to the company that it used to be ever since the merger, but I still consider it a better investment than Activision. Blizzard and it's franchises can still be salvaged, Activision is past the point of no return.

[Reg]

It has to do with the value of the company's share price. Vivendi's media portion of the company is very profitable while their Activision-Blizzard portion not so much and has been dragging down the company's value for quite some time.

I understand how that works, but what did they expect with no releases in 2011. I guess from my perspective, they should have known what they were getting themselves into.

[Hobb]

Considering Starcraft 2 was released in 2010, Cataclysm was released in 2010. Diablo was to be released in 2012, and Mists of Pandaria in 2012. I don't think you could have expected much from 2011, hardly surprising it was a low profit year since they had no releases....

Don't get me wrong, I think Blizzard is nowhere close to the company that it used to be ever since the merger, but I still consider it a better investment than Activision. Blizzard and it's franchises can still be salvaged, Activision is past the point of no return.

I don't think you looked at the report, it lists their 2010 and 2009 earning as well. Even with releases in 2010, Activision earned almost double that of Blizzard.

[Deleted]

I don't think you looked at the report, it lists their 2010 and 2009 earning as well. Even with releases in 2010, Activision earned almost double that of Blizzard.

But wasn't Cataclysm like the top-selling computer game ever when it was released? I remember it breaking some type of record.

Not too bad if you ask me.

[Stanton Biston]

Blizzard is like 3 games. Activision is like a million games.

Why are people surprised at the difference in scale?