French media conglomerate Vivendi has come under enough financial pressure that may force it to offload one of its crown jewels: Activision Blizzard.
Vivendi is strangled by a pile of only slowly declining debt that currently stands at about $15.5 billion. The sale of Activision Blizzard, which is majority-owned by Vivendi, could alleviate the growing pain substantially. The 60 percent stake Vivendi holds is estimated to be worth about $10 billion. According to Reuters, Vivendi may have started fielding potential buyers, which reportedly include Time Warner as well as Microsoft.
When asked for comment, both companies declined to comment on Activision Blizzard, but did not deny their interest either. Similarly, Vivendi did not deny that Activision Blizzard is for sale and said that "all options are on the table". As attractive as Activision Blizzard may be as a game publisher, it would be relatively easy for Vivendi to part ways as it is not a core business for the company.
Founded back in 1853, and headquartered in Paris, Vivendi's heart is in music publishing and TV broadcasting.
At least M$ does games, but Time Warner???? They are the worst company I have ever had the curse of dealing with!
M$ on this one, choose the better of the two.
Doing so will void any 3rd in a series of games that hasn't been released. Then again, it would be funny to see Blizzard go under Valve which recently had an argument over issues about ownership of DOTA.
already with activi$ion the server is down what more with M$, blue screen of DIABLO hahahaha
I wonder what would happen if they merge with their nemesis EA. That will be Armageddon.
At least M$ does games, but Time Warner???? They are the worst company I have ever had the curse of dealing with!
M$ on this one, choose the better of the two.
Doing so will void any 3rd in a series of games that hasn't been released. Then again, it would be funny to see Blizzard go under Valve which recently had an argument over issues about ownership of DOTA.
If TimeWarner gets Activision-Blizzard, games will become ad supported.....
I don't really hate them or like them but MS has realy do take care of their games compared to Activison.
$10 billion is not chump change to anyone but when your company costs that much there are very few who can afford it. Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft spring to mind in the IT sector and only Microsoft has previously done games, so obviously they will approch Microsoft.
If they fail to find a buyer they may fragment into futher smaller divisions, like de-merging Blizzard and selling that on its own. Watch this space.