This week the company announced that it has bought equity stakes in mobile game developer and publisher Gameloft and global video game developer and publisher Ubisoft.
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The French media company said late Wednesday that it has spent EUR140.3 million to buy a 6.6% stake in Ubisoft and another EUR19.7 million to buy 6.2% of Gameloft.
Under Chairman Vincent Bollore, who is also its biggest shareholder, Vivendi has accumulated 9 billion euros in cash after disposing of telecommunications assets in countries including France and Brazil – only to come back to phone companies a few months later.
Separately, Les Echos writes that the operation could seem paradoxical as Vivendi made a decision to pull out of the video game market two years ago by selling 85 percent of Activision Blizzard and keeping only a 5.7 percent residual stake. It now owns nearly 20 percent of Telecom Italia and ultimately wants to influence its strategy and initiate changes, people familiar with his plans have said.
Ubisoft wrestles with console game makers using titles like Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six, while the smaller Gameloft has a mobile games focus.
Vivendi, of course, is no stranger to the games industry having been a publisher up until 2008, when it merged with 2013.
Vivendi has purchased minority stakes in leading games firms Ubisoft and Gameloft. The acquisitions have resulted in a 14 percent rise in share prices for Ubisoft, while Gameloft’s share value increased by 17 percent.
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Meanwhile, Ubisoft is yet to release a statement regarding this investment.
