French media conglomerate Vivendi has acquired majority ownership of mobile publisher Gameloft as it continues its attempt at a hostile takeover of Ubisoft, the publisher of the popular Assassin's Creed franchise.
Gameloft was founded by the Guillemot brothers, who head Ubisoft. A few months ago, Vivendi acquired 30 percent of the mobile publisher and tempted stockholders to sell their shares with an offer valued at 50 percent over the market value for the stocks.
The offer by Vivendi proved to be tempting enough, with the media company now having taken over Gameloft, which is known for games such as Modern Combat and Asphalt.
"In a rapidly-evolving market, your company, which needs industrial and financial backing to develop, will be able to count on our full support and commitment," Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine and COO Stephane Roussel wrote in a letter addressed to Gameloft employees, adding that the acquisition of the company by Vivendi will lead to more opportunities for collaboration across different aspects such as content creation, distribution networks and new franchise development.
Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot is said to be planning to step down from his post to assist his brother Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, in preventing Vivendi from making a similar takeover on the company.
Vivendi now owns almost 18 percent of Ubisoft, while the Guillemot brothers only hold about 15 percent of the votes on the company's board. Ubisoft has tried to defend itself from the planned takeover by looking to secure commitments from Canadian investors that they will not be relinquishing their shares to any offers made by Vivendi.
IHS Technology analyst Christine Arrington, however, believes that despite the Guillemot brothers not liking the idea of letting Vivendi take over, the move could be good for the publisher so that it would be able to keep up with the initiatives being launched by rivals Electronic Arts and Activision.
