Ubisoft CEO Warns of Dangers of a Hostile Takeover by Vivendi

[Teeqoz]

Ka-pi96 said:

Teeqoz said:

Ahh sorry.

I'll try to go a little bit more indepth (though I by now means have extensive knowledge of this).

I don't think Ubisoft can actually mount a takeover defence by buying their own shares. The reason this works in the movies is because it's not the company itself owning that 51%, but the private person (or at least a 3rd party shareholder). What Ubisoft are trying to do now is to get enough shareholders (>50%)  to "agree" on not selling their stake and not agreeing to a potential takeover bid.

If they were to do that wouldn't it just decrease the number of shares in circulation, effectively increasing Vivendi's percentage and making their job easier for them?

So if it has to be a private person like you said to do it that way then Guillemot would effectively have to buy the shares personally right?

You are correct on both accounts, but it doesn't have to be a private person, it just has to be (at least one) third party entity. Like the government if Canada or whatever. Multiple third party entities can co-operate in the buy-out defense too, which is what Ubisoft is trying to organiza.