Ubisoft: Tencent, Guillemot Family Weighing Buyout

[Chazore]

Ryuu96 said:

Microsoft legally isn't allowed to even try to acquire Ubisoft until at least 2033 due to their divestment of Activision-Blizzard cloud licenses to Ubisoft so there's no point in speculating in that one, haha. Even if they couldn't, I'd hope FTC/CMA/EC would come down on them like a ton of bricks and block it in an instant, I'm a big Xbox fan but fuck them, they'd probably lay off 10,000...Lol.

Ain't zero chance Sony goes for it either, they aren't going to want to take on 20,000 employees. Even Activision-Blizzard was "only" around 10k when Microsoft first made the deal to acquire them, they ballooned to about 15k during the legal battles, Lol. Can rule out the other 3rd party publishers as well doing a merger, I reckon, anyone acquiring Ubisoft is going to do massive layoffs.

Unfortunate Yves and Tencent seem to have a good relationship, Tencent owns around 10% and Guillemot Family around 15% but Tencent also owns 49% in Guillemot Brothers Ltd. Over the years, it has been pretty obvious that Yves has been working with Tencent to ensure that both Ubisoft remains independent but his family also remains a top shareholder.

They made these moves to prevent another Vivendi situation (hostile takeover) but may end up selling to Tencent anyway, Lol. I think Yves may go for Tencent owning the company if his family still is allowed a significant stake and leadership role. Not sure if that's enticing to Tencent though, Tencent tends to stay hands off but Ubisoft is mismanaged.

Were they slapped with some kind of cooling off penalty?. I wasn't even aware that was even a thing to consider (but then again, that buyout was a big one, bigger than Bethesda's purchase). 

I think Tencent sees the sinking ship as a means to gain ground in EU/US markets, but that's just my theory. Ever since they showed up ibn the games industry, they sided with Epic in a big way at first, then they nabbed Riot and controlled the biggest Moba on the planet and started expanding that IP around the field. They technically have a two pronged assault via their alliance with Epic and their WePlay (and I guess Riot, since they technically have their own client these days). 

Yves honestly has no clue what he's getting himself into tbh. Holdings companies aren't like regular corps like MS. One day they're your best mate and give you some roles, the next you're out and they've got someone else to play ball with. Holdings have no real everlasting bond (from what I've seen in history anyway, it has always been about primary interests in what they hold, rather than what they establish). 

At this moment in time Yves will likely have to make the offer, and it'll be Tencent who decides if it's a good deal or not. If not, the ship will simply sink further, so it's not like Yves is on even bargaining terms (your mention of some shares and a leadership position hint me to this scenario at least).