The French group Vivendi Games and Activision States today officially merged after the announcement last December , and led to Activision Blizzard, the world's largest company in the gaming industry, with a market capitalization of about 12,700 million euros.
The combined turnover of the two parent companies which have led to Activision Blizzard is around 2,860 million euros in 2007, bringing newborn seal dethrones Electronic Arts , a company that until now has been a leader in the sector, with a turnover of around EUR 2,330 million last year.
The 54% stake in Activision Blizzard, of around 6,000 employees, belong to the group Vivendi, a percentage that will stabilize by 52% after the "total solution", said the French group.
Vivendi Games is the company responsible for games like 'World of Warcraft' , with 10.7 million subscribers. Activision, meanwhile, is the creator of games like 'Guitar Hero' or combat game in first person 'Call of Duty' .
The chairman of Vivendi, Jean-Bernard Levy, said that the merger has created "the world's number one video game publishers 'online' and to console" and stressed that "the addition of forces" between the two companies' offers a huge growth potential. "
According to Levy, Activision Blizzard "is perfectly positioned to benefit from the video game market, a sector in strong growth in all continents".
For his part, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, Robert Kotick, described the merger as "the start of a new chapter in the history of interactive entertainment" and said that the ambition of the firm that lead is "to create the best games world " .
Compare EA? Take Two?
In the course of the next 5 working days Activision Blizzard will launch a public offering of 146.5 million shares at $ 27.50 each title.
The new interactive entertainment giant will be present in all industry platforms such as PC, consoles and mobile phones.
The reaction of Electronic Arts (EA), responsible for games like 'FIFA' or 'The Sims', was immediate, since shortly after it was unveiled news of the merger, the U.S. group offered 2,000 million Take-Two dollars , creator of the popular series 'Grand Theft Auto'.
An offer that Take Two rejected twice, citing excuses like that would take into account not until after the expected launch of 'GTA IV' , which came out last April 29.
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