EA buys 20% of Ubi Soft and EA becomes largest owner

F

Farid

Artist formely known as Vysez
Veteran
Supporter
Link

Electronic Arts buys 19.9 pct in Ubisoft from Talpa Beheer
PARIS (AFX) - US video games maker Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS - news) said it bought about 19.9 pct in French rival Ubi Soft Entertainment SA from Talpa Beheer BV for an undisclosed sum.
Ubisoft shares closed at 16.98 eur on Euronext Paris on Friday, valuing the company at about 300 mln eur.
Electronic Arts said the share purchase, carried out in one block, will be completed when antitrust clearance is obtained from the US government.
Talpa Beheer is the investment vehicle of Dutch financier John de Mol, co-founder of TV company Endemol which pioneered reality TV with 'Big Brother'.
Talpa was reported early in 2004 to have raised its stake in Ubisoft to 10.5 pct
Click to expand...

FYI, the Guillemots, the founders of Ubi and previous Largest owners, have ~15% of the capital.

actionnariat.jpg


EA is unstoppable, run to the hills, or else EA might buy you...
 
Crap, just when Ubi had started churning out consistently good games. I guess anyone raising the standard above 'mediocre' must be pretty worrying for EA ... they might have to start competing.
 
Ubi Soft can still buy back some of it's public shares, they certainly have the money to do that
Click to expand...
They have actually been shopping around for someone to buy that 20% from what I've heard. It's not like EA took those shares over in some hostile takover.
 
Ya know... this is really strange. MS cutting thier entire sport division, EA getting exlcusive NFL rights and buying up developers (and now other publishers) like crazy, including renderware.

You gotta wonder why these things are happening and if there's any connection between them. I can see MS only cutting sports if they fully expect to be supported in that areas by someone like EA or sega.
 
You gotta wonder why these things are happening and if there's any connection between them. I can see MS only cutting sports if they fully expect to be supported in that areas by someone like EA or sega.
Click to expand...
What is there to expect? They are fully supported by both EA Sports and Sega Sports.
 
This is horrible news and very bad for the gaming industry. I really dislike where this is headed. I hope Ubi Soft is able to buy back much of its own public stock in order to secure control over itself. If not then I guess we can kiss Ubi Soft into the garbage as well. It's a shame that EA wants to assmilate all the good developers in the gaming industry and turn them into utter crap.
 
Sonic said:
This is horrible news and very bad for the gaming industry. I really dislike where this is headed. I hope Ubi Soft is able to buy back much of its own public stock in order to secure control over itself. If not then I guess we can kiss Ubi Soft into the garbage as well. It's a shame that EA wants to assmilate all the good developers in the gaming industry and turn them into utter crap.
Click to expand...

Their main goal is to make a profit, I don't think they're THAT stupid to just put many succesful franchises - if they were to acquire Ubi Soft - to waste...
 
Evil_Cloud said:
Sonic said:
This is horrible news and very bad for the gaming industry. I really dislike where this is headed. I hope Ubi Soft is able to buy back much of its own public stock in order to secure control over itself. If not then I guess we can kiss Ubi Soft into the garbage as well. It's a shame that EA wants to assmilate all the good developers in the gaming industry and turn them into utter crap.
Click to expand...

Their main goal is to make a profit, I don't think they're THAT stupid to just put many succesful franchises - if they were to acquire Ubi Soft - to waste...
Click to expand...

No so tell me what happened to wing commander and ultima ?
 
I don't know why EA is buying all these developers. They're moving jobs to China as soon as possible, I'm sure. Just for licenses and IP, perhaps?

Anyway, I really wish someone would stop EA, but I don't know anyone who would. Ubi isn't NEAR big enough to outmuscle EA. No 3rd party is. And all the console makers are busy sending congratulatory emails to EA in hopes they won't have to pay quite as much to get all of EA's games next time.

And if anyone purchased EA (and the sale actually got approved by various governments), they would become the new EA. How could you reform all EA's assets?
 
Their main goal may be to make a profit, but it is not through providing great games. EA is known for buying out great developers and transforming them into lifeless entities that are nothing more than an empty shell of their former selves. Profit can come in two ways, by games that are genuinely good and offer an experience that are great and loved by many. Profit can also be gained by taking over developers and riding the success of certain properties until those properties are run into the ground.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top