Vivendi Is Selling Half Its Stake in Call of Duty Publisher Activision Blizzard
Various media outlets are reporting that French media company Vivendi is selling half its remaining interest in Activision Blizzard, the company that publishes your favorite shooters and also has its hands in little indie games you may have heard of, like the Skylanders series and World of Warcraft.
It’s selling 41.5 million of its remaining shares in Activision, representing about 5.8% of the company, and valued at $866 million based on the recent closing price of the stock. It plans to sell the remaining 41.5 million eventually. The buyer was not announced.
This is a minor sale compared to last July, when Vivendi sold 85% of its stake in Activision, valued at $8.2 billion, back to Activision. Before that sale Vivendi actually owned 61 percent of the company.
Vivendi is selling the stock to pay off debt and shift focus to its core media businesses, which include pay-TV business Canal Plus and Universal Music.
[Source: The Guardian]