darkSpyro

[article on IGN]

"Vivendi may decide to sell all or part of their 61% stake in mega-publisher Activision during an upcoming meeting of senior executives on June 22, according to inside sources with investing analysis website Bloomberg News (a reputable site not known for spreading hearsay).

Bloomberg lists Activision's market value at $13 billion. For reference, Vivendi purchased Activision for $4 billion in 2007.

It may seem crazy for Vivendi to part with the most profitable publisher on the planet, but really it could be the ultimate "sell high" move. ..., Skylanders is huge right now, and the arrival of the next generation of consoles in the coming 1-2 years could prove to be a turbulent, unpredictable time, speaking purely from a publisher's dollars-and-cents perspective. .... If it happens, the next question would naturally be, "Who could afford them?" Not many players in the video game space have 10-figure bank accounts..."


Kind of interesting, as it could potentially spell trouble for the Skylanders series, although I don't know much of how things like this would work. You think Activision would just do stuff on their own?

as long as they still make good games,i don't care.

I wouldn't worry about whether this will affect how good Skylanders is in the future: I highly doubt the corporate ownership of Activision will have any affect at all on the quality of Toys for Bob's work; I'd think they're too far down the corporate line for anything to affect them at this point while Activision remains the billion-dollar company that it is.

I don't think they can milk Skylanders alone forever, unless they make a 3rd game that's even better.

Quote: PinkWater

I don't think they can milk Skylanders alone forever, unless they make a 3rd game that's even better.

That's not what I meant.
What's happening is the ownership of Activision might get sold to a different parent corporation, but the operations of Activision itself would not be affected, including the smaller companies owned by it such as Toys for Bob. So long as Toys for Bob remains in partnership in Activison, continuing to be funded and supported by them, the survival and quality of the Skylanders brand will not be affected.

Then this is a minor furniture movement. Or something like that.

I'm a stockholder and heard they were just selling the Blizzard part of the business, or looking at it. Interesting.... thanks for posting.

It's strange isn't it? Spyro does well for all of three games under one company, then something goes wrong/changes within that company, then Spyro's in the lurch again.

Do you think the cycle will repeat here?

I think Activision will remain virtually unchanged, and Toys for Bob will almost definitely be left alone. Most of the time, companies who buy into deals like this are just doing it for the money, which Activision has no problem with. Unless there's something wrong, and there's not--it's the most profitable developer in the world--you can pretty much assume whoever purchases that 61% will be more than happy to keep their meddling at bay.

This is also the stock market. Someone else will buy a large stake within the stake and be the minor stakes. This is common at the NYSE.