In an 8.2 billion dollar buyout Activision Blizzard will go independent from parent company Vivendi. The publisher is set to buy 439 million shares from Vivendi for $5.83 billion while an additional $2.24 billion in shares, that’s 172 million of them will be bought by an investment group lead by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly. In doing so Vivendi will no long be a major stockholder and Activision Blizzard will become an independent company. Though Vivendi will still hold around 12% of the shares in the company according to an article on gamesindustry.biz. While speaking about the takeover Bobby Kotick had this to say,
“We should emerge even stronger-an independent company with a best-in-class franchise portfolio and the focus and flexibility to drive long-term shareholder value and expand our leadership position as one of the world’s most important entertainment companies. The transactions announced today will allow us to take advantage of attractive financing markets while still retaining more than $3 billion cash on hand to preserve financial stability.”
