Nota de prensa
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071202005054&newsLang=en
Vivendi and Activision to Create Activision Blizzard – World’s Largest, Most Profitable Pure-Play Video Game Publisher
Combination Brings Activision’s Best-Selling Video Games, Including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty®, and Tony Hawk, Together With Vivendi Games’ Portfolio of Leading Franchises, Including Crash BandicootTM and SpyroTM, and Blizzard Entertainment’s® StarCraft®, Diablo® and Global #1 Subscription-Based World Of Warcraft®
Vivendi to Contribute Vivendi Games Valued at $8.1 Billion, Plus $1.7 Billion in Cash in Exchange for Approximately 52% Stake in Activision Blizzard at Closing; Total Transaction Valued at $18.9 Billion
Activision Blizzard Will Commence Post-Closing Cash Tender Offer for Up to 146.5 Million of its Shares at $27.50 per Share, Representing 31% Premium for Activision Stockholders Based on 20-Trading Day Average
Transaction Will Unlock Value of Blizzard Entertainment’s Massively Multiplayer Online Games Business and Will Be Accretive to Stockholders of Activision and Vivendi
SANTA MONICA, Calif. & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Vivendi (Euronext Paris: VIV) today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to combine Vivendi Games, Vivendi's interactive entertainment business -- which includes Blizzard Entertainment’s® World of Warcraft®, the world’s #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise -- with Activision, creating the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher. The new company, Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any major third-party video game publisher. On closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.
Activision, one of the world’s leading independent publishers of interactive entertainment, is best known for its top-selling franchises, including Guitar Hero®, Call of Duty® and the Tony Hawk series, as well as Spider-Man™, X-Men™, Shrek®, James Bond™ and TRANSFORMERS™. Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, has projected calendar 2007 revenues of $1.1 billion, operating margins of over 40% and approximately $520 million of operating profit. Blizzard owns the #1 multi-player online role-playing game franchise, World of Warcraft, which currently has over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, Warcraft®, StarCraft® and Diablo® games account for four of the top-five best-selling PC game titles of all time. Vivendi Games also owns popular franchises, including Crash Bandicoot™ and Spyro™. Pro forma for calendar 2007, Activision Blizzard expects to generate approximately 70% of its revenues from owned franchises. As a result of the business combination, Activision Blizzard expects to have the most diversified and broadest portfolio of interactive entertainment assets in its industry, positioning the combined company to capitalize on the continued worldwide growth in interactive entertainment.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi stated: “This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform. We believe this transaction will create significant value for Activision Blizzard and Vivendi stockholders. In Activision, we have found a partner with a highly complementary business and strong operating team. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly are industry pioneers, well known for creating shareholder value. The combined strength of the existing management teams at both companies will set the stage for further profitable growth of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to being an active and supportive majority stockholder in a company that is poised to lead the worldwide interactive entertainment industry in the years ahead.”
René Penisson, Member of the Management Board of Vivendi and current Chairman of Vivendi Games, added: “We are very confident that by combining forces, Activision Blizzard will set the highest standards in quality, reputation and profitability, and will bring together the best creative teams in the industry. The combination of this unique product portfolio with highly professional employees gives us great confidence in the growth prospects for Activision Blizzard.”
Said Robert Kotick, Activision's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: “This is an outstanding transaction for Activision and our stockholders, as well as a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry. By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences. By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business and gain a large footprint in the rapidly growing Asian markets, including China and Korea, while maintaining our leading operating performance across North America and Europe. Activision stockholders will benefit from significantly increased earnings power and the recurring nature and predictability of subscription-based revenues, while also having the opportunity, if they choose, to receive $27.50 per share for a portion of their shares in the post-closing tender offer.”
Kotick continued: “Vivendi Games provides Activision with unique strategic and financial benefits and will allow us to leverage our franchises into emerging online opportunities as Blizzard has done so successfully. Activision has been very focused on margin expansion, and this transaction will meaningfully increase our overall operating margins as we expand our franchises online and in new geographies. Diversifying our revenue base among subscription-based online, console and PC formats, as well as wireless and casual emerging opportunities, gives us the broadest platform to capitalize on industry growth. With Blizzard’s successful franchises, such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft and an exciting pipeline of yet-to-be announced titles, Vivendi Games’ and Blizzard’s management team will join with Activision’s strong and experienced leaders to become an even more powerful force for innovation in online and offline interactive entertainment across a wide range of platforms. This transaction also provides a unique relationship with Universal Music Group – the world’s largest music company – which will benefit Guitar Hero and further extend our sizable leadership position in music-based games.”
Mike Morhaime, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard, added: "Blizzard's industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision's highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before.”
Structure & Terms of Transaction
Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share – a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days – for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.
Within five business days after closing the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share. The tender offer will be funded by Activision Blizzard’s cash on hand at closing, including the $1.7 billion in cash received from the Vivendi share purchase. In addition, Vivendi has agreed to acquire from Activision Blizzard additional newly issued shares for up to an additional $700 million of Activision common stock at $27.50 per share, the proceeds of which would also be used to fund the tender offer. Any remaining funds required to complete the tender offer will be borrowed by Activision Blizzard from Vivendi or third-party lenders. If the tender offer is fully subscribed, Vivendi will own an approximate 68% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive in its first year post-closing for Activision’s stockholders and slightly accretive for Vivendi’s stockholders. Activision Blizzard is targeting pro forma operating income of $1.1 billion and pro forma earnings per share (EPS) in excess of $1.20 in calendar year 2009. The transaction is expected to be at least $0.20 accretive to Activision stockholders in calendar year 2009.
Governance
Activision Blizzard’s board of directors will be comprised of eleven members: six directors designated by Vivendi, two Activision management directors and three independent directors who currently serve on Activision’s board of directors. René Penisson, currently a member of the Management Board of Vivendi and Chairman of Vivendi Games, will serve as Chairman of Activision Blizzard. Brian Kelly, currently Co-Chairman of Activision, will serve as Co-Chairman of Activision Blizzard. The three independent directors will be Richard Sarnoff, Robert J. Corti and Robert Morgado. Other Activision Blizzard directors will be Robert Kotick (President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard), Bruce Hack (Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard), Jean-Bernard Lévy (Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi), Doug Morris (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Music Group), Philippe Capron (Member of the Management Board and Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi), and Frédéric Crépin (Senior Vice President, Head of Legal, Vivendi).
Management
Following the completion of the transaction, Robert Kotick will be President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. Bruce Hack, current Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi Games, will serve as Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard, accountable for leading the merger integration and the finance, human resources and legal functions. Mike Griffith will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Publishing, which after closing will include the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions in addition to the Activision business. Mike Morhaime will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard Entertainment. Thomas Tippl, currently Chief Financial Officer of Activision, will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard and Jean-François Grollemund, currently Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi Games, will be appointed Chief Accounting Officer of Activision Blizzard.
Conditions to Closing
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of Vivendi, Vivendi Games and Activision. The transaction is subject to the approval of Activision's stockholders and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including expiration of applicable waiting periods and receipt of applicable approvals under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and European Union merger control regulations. Pending regulatory and stockholder approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed in the first half of calendar year 2008.
Financial and Legal Advisors
Activision’s financial advisor on the transaction is Allen & Company LLC and its legal counsel is Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Vivendi’s financial advisor is Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is acting as legal counsel to Vivendi.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
The management of both companies will host a joint conference call and live webcast on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. Paris time, 1:30 p.m. London time to discuss this announcement. The companies welcome all members of the investment community to listen to the call live by dialing into (888) 765-5554 in the U.S. or (913) 312-1235 outside the U.S. The live webcast of the call can be accessed at
http://www.vivendi.com and
http://www.activision.com.
For those unable to listen to the live conference call, an audio replay of the call will be available through December 17, 2007, approximately two hours after the call’s conclusion and can be accessed by calling (888) 203-1112 in the U.S. or (719) 457-0820 outside the U.S. and entering the pass-code: 5648597. In addition, a webcast replay also will be archived on the Investor Relations section of each company’s website.
Activision Broadcast Media Center
Broadcast quality video and web-streaming video is available in PAL and NTSC formats on Activision's Broadcast Media Center at
http://activision.pondserver.com. Pathfire users can download video to their Digital Media Gateway by choosing the Pathfire Enabled file. All video is free of charge and its use is unrestricted.
About Vivendi
Vivendi is a global leader in digital entertainment with activities in music, TV, cinema, mobile, internet, and games through its ownership of Universal Music Group, Canal+ Group, SFR, Maroc Telecom and Vivendi Games. In 2006, Vivendi had revenues of over €20 billion and a global headcount of 39,000. Listed on the Paris Stock market, Vivendi is a member of the CAC 40. More information about Vivendi is available at
http://www.vivendi.com.
About Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multiplatform interactive entertainment. The company is the leader in the subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) category and is building on its position in the PC, console and handheld games markets. Vivendi Games has a global presence, a history of franchise success, development teams around the world and a catalog of its own original and licensed material. Vivendi Games has approximately 4,000 employees and is driven by four creative divisions: Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile. Irvine, California-based Blizzard, creator of the Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo games series, is by far the largest of the four entities with approximately 2,300 employees.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (
http://www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes ten #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active users.
About Activision, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Activision has more than 2,000 employees worldwide.
Activision maintains operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's World Wide Web site, which is located at
http://www.activision.com.
http://www.elmundo.es/navegante/2007/12/02/juegos/1196618442.html?a=b5a490cac5eb6ca04d5f69c3e34fd968&t=1196625579
Activision y Blizzard, dos de los 'pesos pesados' de la industria de los videojuegos, han anunciado su fusión. La nueva compañía, llamada Activision Blizzard, tendrá en su haber títulos como 'Call of Duty' y 'World of Warcraft', entre otros históricos.
"El negocio más beneficioso de los videojuegos en el mundo" tendrá un valor de unos 18.800 millones de dólares, cerca de 13.000 millones de euros, según el acuerdo. Además, Blizzard buscará financiación para aportar 2.000 millones de dólares más, mientras que Activision hará lo propio con 1.000 millones de dólares, según anuncia la BBC.
El director ejecutivo del nuevo gigante será el actual de Activision, Bobby Kotick. El grupo Vivendi, propietario de Blizzard, será el máximo accionista del gigante.
Para concebir la importancia de este acuerdo, hay que tener en cuenta que por ejemplo Blizzard ingresa cada mes la suscripción de nueve millones de jugadores del World of Warcraft que pagan cada uno algo más de 10 euros cada uno.
Además, las dos compañías cuentan con otros éxitos de ventas como las series Tony Hawk, Starcraft y Guitar Hero.
Jean-Bernard Levy, director ejecutivo de Vivendi afirma que esta alianza es "un gran paso estratégico de Vivendi y una ilustración de cómo amplía su presencia en el sector del entretenimiento".
Dos grandes complementarios
Ambas firmas esperan que la unión multiplique su fortaleza en el mundo de los videojuegos. Blizzard es fuerte en todo el mundo, pero en Asia destaca por el exagerado interés en su oferta 'online', incluido el Starcraft (1998) y sus competiciones en la Red. Millones de surcoreanos lo juegan una década después en cibercafés, y allí existen hasta profesionales que compiten en torneos muy bien remunerados.
Activision por su parte produce videojuegos para todas las consolas de nueva generación, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 y Wii. Esta compañía ha sobrevivido a todas las turbulencias del sector desde su creación en 1979, siendo así una de las pocas que no han quebrado desde entonces o ha sido adquirida por un 'pez mayor'.
No obstante, Blizzard, a pesar de su reconocido éxito, pasó por muchas manos antes de ser comprada por Vivendi en 1998.
http://www.vandal.net/noticia/29854/activision-y-vivendi-games-se-fusionan-en-activision-blizzard/
Nace el mayor editor de juegos del mundo, con un valor de 18.900 millones de dólares.
De forma totalmente sorprendente, hace escasos minutos se ha anunciado la fusión de Activision y Vivendi Games, dos de las mayores compañías de videojuegos del mundo, en una nueva corporación que se llamará Activision Blizzard, juntando los nombres de la histórica compañía y del más preciado activo de Vivendi Games.
Bajo los términos del acuerdo, Vivendi SA, el conglomerado audiovisual francés, aportará su división Vivendi Games (valorada en 8,1 millones) y 1.700 millones de dólares, controlando el 52% de la nueva compañía, que seguirá cotizando en el NASDAQ bajo el símbolo ATVI. La nueva compañía ofrecerá a los accionistas de Activision 27,50 dólares por cada una de sus acciones, una prima del 31% sobre el precio medio de las acciones de la compañía durante los últimos veinte días.
El nuevo gigante Activision Blizzard tendrá un valor en bolsa de unos 18.900 millones de dólares, con unas ventas de 3.800 millones, lo que la pone por encima de la actual mayor compañía independiente del mercado, Electronic Arts, líder desde hace años. Como consejero delegado de la nueva compañía estará Bobby Kotick, de Activision. Se ha dicho que el equipo directivo de ambas compañías se "mezclará", sin entrar en detalles concretos sobre cada uno de los cargos.
Además de las mayores ventas, el nuevo gigante tendrá en su haber sagas y franquicias como Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Doom, Quake, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Crash o Spyro, entre muchas otras, logrando además Guitar Hero el acceso a la música de Vivendi Universal Music Group, mayor compañía de discos del mundo.
http://www.hardgame2.com/index.php?zone=news&mod=noticia&id=36474
Agárrense los machos porque estamos sin duda ante una de las noticias del año, si no ante la noticia del año. Activision y Vivendi Games acaban de llegar a un acuerdo de fusión en virtud del cual nace la que es desde este mismo instante la editora más grande e importante del panorama videojueguil: Activision Blizzard. Y decimos bien, ya que los márgenes operativos de este nuevo gigante superarán por mucho a los de cualquier otra editora. El valor conjunto de este acuerdo supera los 18.900 millones de dólares, lo que nos puede dar una idea de a qué niveles de liquidez nos estamos refiriendo. Sin duda, en el fondo de esta operación se encuentra el deseo, por parte de Activision, de adentrarse en el lucrativo negocio de los MMORPG, mercado que actualmente está en manos de Vivendi con su millonario World of WarCraft.
Según los ejecutivos de la compañía, el 70% de los beneficios los esperan conseguir de IPs y franquicias propias, lo que no parece descabellado si tenemos en cuenta que en conjunto este nuevo holding posee los derechos exclusivos de sagas y propiedades intelectuales tales como Guitar Hero, la saga Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Spiderman, X-Men, James Bond, Shrek, StarCraft, Diablo, WarCraft, World of WarCraft, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro y un largo etcétera. Las cifras del acuerdo, son las siguientes: las acciones de Vivendi Games se convertirán en 295,3 millones de nuevas acciones de Activision, por un valor de 8.100 millones de dólares. Vivendi a su vez adquirirá 62,9 millones de acciones de Activision por un valor de 1.700 millones de dólares.
Activision Blizzard estará dirigida por un equipo directivo formado por ejecutivos tanto de Activision como de Vivendi. Bruce Hack y Robert Kotick, los actuales directores de las dos compañías ahora hermanas, son las dos primeras personas en obtener un puesto entre las once cabezas pensantes que dirigirán con mano de hierro este nuevo monstruo de la publicación. Por su parte Rene Penisson, miembro del equipo directivo de Vivendi y presidente de Vivendi Games, hará las veces de presidente de Activision Blizzard.
Para dar más perspectiva al asunto, baste con remarcar que el beneficio conjunto de ambas compañías durante el año 2007 asciende a los 3.800 millones de dólares, a mucha distancia de cualquier otra editora. Recordad este día porque esto puede marcar un antes y un después en la historia de los videojuegos, al menos a lo que se refiere a su cara más empresarial. Desde ambas compañías estiman que esta fusión se hará efectiva a mediados del próximo 2008. Fuente: MCV.
Junto con el comunicado que oficializaba la fusión de Activision y Vivendi Games para convertirse en una de las compañías más poderosas económicamente de esta industria, bajo el nombre de Activision Blizzard, los dirigentes de ambas compañías han realizado los primeros comentarios al respecto de este importantísimo acuerdo. Jean-Bernard Lévy, máximo responsable y CEO de Vivendi Games ha asegurado que "Esta alianza es el mayor paso estratégico de Vivendi y es otra muestra de su camino para expandir su presencia dentro del sector del entretenimiento. Combinando el negocio de juegos de Vivendi con Activision, estamos creando un líder mundial con los mayores beneficios de toda la industria. Estamos excitados sobre las oportunidades que se abren ante Activision Blizzard como una nueva plataforma de software de entretenimiento".
A la izquierda Jean-Bernard Lévy (Vivendi) y a la derecha Robert Kotick (Activision)
Por su parte, el CEO de Activision, Robert Kotick, manifestó al respecto que "Esta es una importantísima transacción para Activision y todos nuestros acciones, además de un evento fundamental que contribuirá a la continua transformación de la industria de entretenimiento interactivo, además de poder llegar a la mayor audiencia posible. Uniendo nuestras fuerzas con Vivendi Games, nos convertiremos de manera inmediata en el líder del negocio del juego online y ganaremos fuerte presencia en los mercados asiáticos, mientras mantenemos nuestras operaciones en toda Norteamérica y Europa. [...] Vivendi Games le dará a Activision una oportunidad estratégica única gracias a la posibilidad de potenciar nuestras franquicias en las oportunidades online que Blizzard ha conseguido satisfactoriamente. Activision ha estado muy centrada en esta expansión y esta transacción significará un incremento en nuestros márgenes de operación, así como una expansión en nuestras franquicias online y en nuevas geografías. [...]Esta operación también nos dará una oportunidad única de relaciones con el Universal Music Group (la compañía musical más importante del mundo) lo cual será beneficioso para nuestra franquicia Guitar Hero y en futuros movimientos que nos harán más líderes en los juegos de temática musical".
Mike Morhaime, Presidente y CEO de Blizzard
Y ya para acabar, Mike Morhaime, Presidente y CEO de Blizzard añadió al respecto que "el líder de negocio en la industria del PC, Blizzard, con un récord de nueve bestsellers consecutivos y una base de más de 9,3 millones de suscriptores a World of Warcraft, opinamos que es una gran oportunidad para aumentar el negocio de consolas de videojuegos de Activision. Desde nuestras interacciones con el equipo de Activision, es claro que tenemos mucho en común en términos de aproximación al desarrollo de juegos y edición de los mismos. Sobre ello, buscaremos fórmulas para seguir creando grandes juegos para los fans de Blizzard en todo el mundo, y creemos que esta nueva colaboración nos ayudará en hacer las cosas mejor que antes". Fuente: Gamasutra.
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