 News Menu |
|
|
| Site Menu |
|
|
| Site Affiliates |
|
|
| Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game publisher, on Monday said it was buying almost 20 percent of the French video game maker Ubi Soft Entertainment, fueling speculation it might bid for the whole company.
Ubi Soft shares jumped 24 percent on the news. EA is buying the shares as a block from Talpa Beheer, the investment vehicle of Dutch media tycoon John de Mol.
"It was very clear they were coming into the market one way or another, and we felt it was important that we own the shares," Warren Jenson, chief financial officer of EA, told Reuters.
Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, Calif., declined to comment on financial terms, but industry sources said the investment was in the range of $85 million to $100 million, making it one of EA's largest such moves.
Analysts did not expect EA to stop at a 20 percent stake.
"We believe that this move by EA is a step towards acquiring the entire UbiSoft and is a potential signal that EA may be willing to take similar aggressive moves to acquire other leading video game publishers," Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in a note.
EA's investment secures it access to 18.4 percent of the voting rights, against 22.8 percent held by Ubi Soft's founders, the Guillemot family, Ubi Soft said.
 News source: News.com.com
|
| There are 0 additional comments, Post a comment | View printable post | Open/Close All Comments |
|
| Sorry, you cannot comment to this news post because you do not have permission to do so. |
|
|
|
|
Recent 
Recent 
Announcement
Welcome to the new AusPCWorld
