Following multiple disappointments and sales misses, Ubisoft could become a private company in a bid to better control its business value.
Ubisoft is currently in trouble. The company's share price has dropped by more than 50% in the last 2 months, with recent dips the results of lower-than-expected fiscal earnings forecasts, the delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows outside of the holiday release window, and disappointing revenues from two newer games.
Popular Now: Control Resonant becomes Remedy's top Steam launch, and even pirates are telling people to buy itBut Ubisoft's largest stakeholder is currently mulling over how to best respond to these issues. Sources tell Bloomberg that one such plan could be to take Ubisoft private.
The French game-maker has one principle majority shareholder, Guillemot Bros Limited (a company run by the Guillemot family, including current Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot). In 2022, Tencent purchased a 49.9% stake in the Guillemot Bros for €300 million. Tencent also purchased 9.9% of Ubisoft stock at that time.
The Guillemot family still has majority in Guillemot Bros. Ltd., and as per the agreement, Tencent cannot A) increase its stake in Ubisoft until 2030, and B) cannot sell its Ubisoft stock until 2027.
As such, Tencent cannot force a hostile takeover of Ubisoft.
New reports suggest that Guillemot Bros., which currently has 20.5% of voting rights in Ubisoft, could team up with Tencent (who has 9.2% of voting rights) and make an offer to buy out all the existing shareholders of Ubisoft. The goal would be to potentially take Ubisoft private and delist it from the Euronext Paris Exchange.
Ubisoft has yet to make any formal announcements, but Ubisoft stock has rallied on the reports, increasing by +33% to €14.20.
