Fresh rumour...mickey mouse and murlocs?

[Adoxe]

Not really a fresh rumor, this has been going on for almost a year now. With the recent news about Overwatch and Diablo TV Shows being in pre-production at Netflix helmed by the Ex-Vice President of Disney, I find it to be even more likely. Looking forward to Jaina meeting Elsa.

[Uko]

I highly doubt disney wants to buy anything after spending a boatload on star wars then killing off the franchise.

[Nnyco]

I would think that Disney owning Blizzard would be a positive for the players though. They seem to care about quality at Disney and that is something lacking these days.

Go watch the new aladin or lion king, come back here and genuinely repeat that sentence please.

[Kalcheus]

So the problem here is that the actual mother company isn't activision. Its Activision Blizzard. Activision is subsidiary of the main company. Just like Blizzard entertainment is subsidiary. But the main point here is that Blizzard isn't subsidiary of Activision that can be easily cut off from the mother company. And with this explanation it should be clear that there is not "big bad Activision" that is deciding things for Blizzard.

This is the important point here. ATVI is a merger of equals with a market capitalization of $46bn. There are a few possibilities that can happen, though:

1) Disney buys all of ATVI. This would cost Disney somewhere in the $55-75bn range similar to what they paid for the Fox assets. However, this would effectively put ATVI "in play", and someone else (Microsoft? Google? Apple? It has to be one of the big ones, EA couldn't afford it - although more on them in a moment) could come in with a higher bid. So $55bn if no one else joins the fun, $75bn at least if someone else gets involved. I don't can't imagine Disney seeing value in such a purchase; it's a high risk/low reward proposition better served by purchasing a smaller (read: cheaper) studio if they want to get more involved in gaming.

2) ATVI splits into two or three entities (I don't think Activision could survive without King, so I'm thinking two) via a stock swap that results in a lower market cap Blizzard. Now we're talking ... about EA merging with Blizzard, because Blizzard would be in play for a merger with EA similar to their prior merger with Activision. Disney of course, could swoop in just for Blizzard, but the bidding is going to have a significantly higher number of participants, and again, while Blizzard-without-Activision may be desirable to the playerbase, the reality is that Blizzard-without-King won't be as desirable to a Disney or Google.

3) The final possibility is that the 80s return and we get Barbarians at the Gates 2, only this time with ATVI instead of RJR-Nabisco. The problem with this scenario is that no one in Activision or Blizzard is rich enough to pull this off, not even Kotick. And of course, even if someone internally was, we're back to the whole company being in play so we're back at possibility 1.

In short, Blizzard being sold off from Activision to Disney is not realistic. The most likely scenario for Disney acquisition would bring Activision along, so nothing would really change, at least in the first five years after it happens.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

This rumor pops up every like... three months. It's never been substantiated and it seems unlikely that they'd pry away Blizzard instead of just buy all of Acti-Blizz.

[Steelangel]

Disney can’t “buy” Blizzard from Activision. Blizzard -is- Activision. They’re the same company.

[Kathranis]

So the problem here is that the actual mother company isn't activision. Its Activision Blizzard. Activision is subsidiary of the main company. Just like Blizzard entertainment is subsidiary. But the main point here is that Blizzard isn't subsidiary of Activision that can be easily cut off from the mother company. And with this explanation it should be clear that there is not "big bad Activision" that is deciding things for Blizzard.

Disney bought ABC, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and Fox, among many other things.

The Fox buyout was for over $70 billion.

All of Activision Blizzard is only valued at about $45 billion, for comparison.

If Disney actually wants Blizzard Entertainment, nothing is going to stop them from getting it. It's just a matter of offering the right price.

[Kalcheus]

All of Activision Blizzard is only valued at about $15 billion, for comparison.

ATVI's market capitalization at close today was $46 billion.

[Schattenlied]

that Kingdom Hearts/World Warcraft crossover WoW players have been clamoring for years.

Is this sarcasm? Has anyone ever actually wanted that?

[Kathranis]

Disney can’t “buy” Blizzard from Activision. Blizzard -is- Activision. They’re the same company.

No they aren't. Activision Blizzard is just a holding company, of which Activision Publishing and Blizzard Entertainment are wholly owned subsidiaries.

[Velerios]

Disney can’t “buy” Blizzard from Activision. Blizzard -is- Activision. They’re the same company.

Naturally they can: Activision and Blizzard could split up, and then Disney could purchase Blizzard from activision alone. It would be a huge split, but i personally think that Activision and Blizzard together simply take on too many ressources to be successful on the long run.

- - - Updated - - -

In short, Blizzard being sold off from Activision to Disney is not realistic. The most likely scenario for Disney acquisition would bring Activision along, so nothing would really change, at least in the first five years after it happens.

Not really: Buying of both Activision and Blizzard might simply be too expensive; so instead of buying everything, they only buy the blizzard-part, and leave ativision with a crapload of money.

[Kyphael]

Is this sarcasm? Has anyone ever actually wanted that?

401 viewers don't lie.

[Kalcheus]

Not really: Buying of both Activision and Blizzard might simply be too expensive; so instead of buying everything, they only buy the blizzard-part, and leave ativision with a crapload of money.

No, they couldn't, that's not how it works for a publicly-traded company comprised of equal partners. Even though I said "in short", I still expected you to read the rest of the post.

[rhorle]

No, they couldn't, that's not how it works for a publicly-traded company comprised of equal partners. Even though I said "in short", I still expected you to read the rest of the post.

Subsidiaries are bought and sold all the time. There is a process to it but Disney could just buy a Blizzard if they wanted to since Blizzard is a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard.

[FelPlague]

I work at an investment banking related firm and we receive certain "special reports" type of newsletters and today's issue was specially interesting because it mentioned that disney is suddenly very interested in buying out blizzard from activision. Mind you this is one step behind the companies going into actual talks, this is just disney going through m&a consultancy firms with certain inquiries.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/...n-blizzar.aspx
https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/...-blizzard.aspx
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-disney-inv...sion-blizzard/
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...ivision/233290
https://blizzardwatch.com/2019/07/23...sion-blizzard/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ker-activision
i mean this was news last year, so idk why your trying to pretend its suddenly new news that you secretly got....

[Bwgmon]

I want it, maybe Disney can save Blizzard games from Activision and we can get that Kingdom Hearts/World Warcraft crossover WoW players have been clamoring for years.

But we already have it?

https://www.wowhead.com/item=59327/kingdoms-heart
https://www.wowhead.com/item=37871/the-key

[Caerule]

I am cool with this.

[Merin]

HAHAHAHAHA. Oh wait, you're serious. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Disney cares about quality. Oh boy that's rich.

Pretty much my exact reaction. The only thing Disney has done impressively in recent years has been to remake Iron Man about two dozen times and convince people they’re different movies.

Everything else has been hot garbage.

[deenman]

yeah, Disney has done so well with Star Wars games.

fallen order is awsome,battlefront 2 is also pretty gr8 these days

[FelPlague]

I would think that Disney owning Blizzard would be a positive for the players though. They seem to care about quality at Disney and that is something lacking these days.

"Disney caring about quality"
As others have said... this phrase... brings me to chuckles...