Ubi-Soft willing to be bought...

**Shrinnan** · 05-29-2005

Reuters Summit-Ubisoft willing to be acquired, in talks-CEO
By Dominique Vidalon and Siobhan Kennedy, Reuters

PARIS, May 26 (Reuters) - Ubisoft , Europe's second-largest video games publisher, is in takeover talks with several parties and does not rule out being acquired by larger U.S. rival Electronic Arts if offered a high enough price, the company's chairman and chief executive said on Thursday.

"We are speaking with third parties that are interested either to merge (or to invest in the company)," Yves Guillemot told the Reuters Telecoms, Media and Technology Summit here on Thursday.

"If someone comes with a very good offer, that will be very interesting ... I'm going to consider it," Guillemot said, adding that several Chinese companies were among the suitors, although he declined to provide further details.

Ubisoft, known for the hit "Splinter Cell" game series and "Prince of Persia," is at the centre of takeover speculation after Electronic Arts, the world's biggest games maker, bought a nearly 20 percent stake in the French company in December 2004.

Ubisoft has dismissed Electronic Arts' approach as hostile and said it was working on organising a defence against a potential bid. Guillemot said he was also talking not only to other suitors, but with several investors as well.

Guillemot said Ubisoft and Electronic Arts held discussions in the past but they were not speaking at the moment.

"That tactical 20 percent does not help. It's a very bad start," Guillemot said.

"It would be wrong to go with the first guy who wants to buy the company," he added.

Electronic Arts is now the company's largest shareholder, ahead of Ubisoft's founders, the Guillemot brothers, who together own 17.5 percent.

But the brothers still control 22.8 percent of the voting rights against 18.4 percent for EA.

Caisse des Depots et Consignations, a state-owned French bank, owns about 6 percent of the capital. BNP Paribas has a 4 percent stake.

Guillemot said Ubisoft would rather stay independent but he would proceed with a sale at the right price.

"We're not going to sell the company for less than we think it's worth. Our turnover is very good. We see our market share improving, so there's no rush to sell," he said.

Guillemot said Ubisoft had held talks with several Chinese companies, although he declined to name them.

Potential Chinese suitors could include the nation's two largest online game operators, Shanda and NetEase.com Inc. , both of which have hefty amounts of cash on their balance sheets. Shanda in particular has been very acquisitive in the last year.

((News from the Reuters Europe TMT Summit will be delivered throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday to Reuters terminals and to the Reuters.com and Reuters.co.uk Web sites, http://reuters.com and http://reuters.co.uk)

What if Microsoft bought Ubi? It seems possible and one would think Microsoft would jump the gun on this one.

**bustabusta196** · 05-29-2005

People on forums have been saying that Take2 has bought them.. since they have the money to and that UBi Soft didnt want EA to buy them.. but Microsoft is a possibility too.

**Shrinnan** · 05-29-2005

The only reason that I think it's Microsoft is because Microsoft is willing to take risks by buying companies for first party like Rare...well if they bought Ubi-Soft they really wouldn't be taking a risk and could only profit from it.

**Smily0012** · 05-29-2005

Well what about SCEI. They definetly have the money to buy it also. If MS does put money on the table then sony can also. I dont see MS or Sony making any bids for the company cause I think they already have their own companies and sharing it with EA is not too good of an idea. EA controls too much of the company for someone alse to just buy it.

**bustabusta196** · 05-29-2005

Sony is in the red i believe so they wouldnt bother picking it up since they are already making games for them. And why do you think Ubi Soft is selling they arent in any financial trouble or anything they just dont want EA to take them over comepletly thats why they are selling out to someone else.

**Smily0012** · 05-29-2005

Why do you seem to say this all the time. If sony was in any kind of trouble they would have been selling their company apart. Probably first they would have sold the MGM studios to make quick money and then from there other stuff. Some of sony's divisions are in the red, but the gaming industry actually helped Sony balance any type of loss that they have expirenced. It would be like saying the xbox is red so why should they buy the company. Also its too risky to buy the stakes because EA has way to much power for "smart companies" like MS or Sony to actually buy them. They own 20% of the company and 18.4% voting rights. But then again some companies are despreate to have some hits on their system and are willing to put the money down.

**SessDMC** · 05-30-2005

I do belive that sony are not in the red, but they need to sort out their company, Cue Howard Stringer, he intents to split it into three devisions, Media (sony pictues and record companys), SCEI, and Sonys hardware manufacture (TV's camcorders ect.)

Any ways that been said i dont think it needs to go on.

All i ask for ubi soft to not do is be bought by EA.
(shouldnt this be put in a more suitable thread?)

**straightballin** · 05-30-2005

Sony is in the red i believe so they wouldnt bother picking it up since they are already making games for them. And why do you think Ubi Soft is selling they arent in any financial trouble or anything they just dont want EA to take them over comepletly thats why they are selling out to someone else.

Just because there in the red dosent mean they cant buy the company. While many companies are in the red they invest in other companies and technology. In the long run it would probably help sony and would gain profit so would help get them out of the red.

**Smily0012** · 05-30-2005

Well I really wouldnt mind any 3rd party company buying the studios. The reason I say this is because when I decide in year or so which system is better to buy ps3 or the xbox360 I wanna be able to buy prince of persia and other great titles the ubi use to make. I dont see EA buying out the ubi because then the government might think EA is a monopoly and try to break up the company. I remeber a couple of companies getting broken up beacuse they were way to powerful.

**Chaotic_King** · 05-30-2005

Sony is not doing that bad people. For a company their size, they're doing ok.
Their debt is only ~10$ billion, and plenty of corporations have debt.

**Smily0012** · 05-30-2005

Can you show some evidance of this. If any comapny ws that much in negative then they have a serious problem.

**Cody** · 05-30-2005

Ubisoft , Europe's second-largest video games publisher, is in takeover talks with several parties and does not rule out being acquired by larger U.S. rival Electronic Arts if offered a high enough price, the company's chairman and chief executive said on Thursday.

Ubisoft is canadian company based in Montreal and if the article got that false.. also the Canadian goverment just gave Ubisoft a large sum of money to pay for new computers and such http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew.../?hub=CanadaAM

**Chaotic_King** · 05-31-2005

Originally Posted by Smily0012

Can you show some evidance of this. If any comapny ws that much in negative then they have a serious problem.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=SNE

**Shrinnan** · 05-31-2005

Ubisoft is canadian company based in Montreal and if the article got that false

Your right and wrong..

Ubi-Soft has many different locations...your thinking of Ubi-Soft Montreal but there is also Ubi-Soft Shanghai and other Ubi-Soft locations and in Europe they are probably the second best publisher so that's probably right.

For Example:

2 teams worked on the Splinter Cell series...

Ubi-Soft Montreal worked on Splinter Cell 1 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory while Ubi-Soft Shanghai worked on Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and probably Splinter Cell 4.

**john kordic** · 05-31-2005

Ubisoft Was founded in france ,but now there is aproximatly 1200 employees based in montreal and 600 in france, so that's why people seems to assume that Ubisoft is from Montreal. And they just announced that they will open a new studio in Quebec of roughly 500 employees in the upcoming years. So yeah Ubisoft is all over the place in England , Japan etc ... So you could say that Ubisoft is mostly international, now.

**IonCannon** · 05-31-2005

Yeah this is obviously just an attempt to stop EA from taking them over. That would be the worse possible outcome IMO. Also yes doubtful Sony or MS would bother getting in with EA, could be bad for relations, neither company wants EA offside...

**Cody** · 05-31-2005

My point was that Ubisoft's current head office is montreal, I also wonder what would happen to the company if Quebec seperates I would assume the company would have to remain a canadian company and leave montreal but I don't know my corporations and laws very well I only kow that Bell would have to leave Quebec if it seperates so I would think Ubi-soft would to

**Smily0012** · 05-31-2005

No, thats a division controlled by Ubi from France. Its like Rockstar or any other big game producer. If the main company sell it self then the other ones must do what is directed on to them. I mean there is a possiblity of the company selling its divisions seperatly. They sell the one in france to EA while the one in canada gets brought by some other comapny.

**Chaotic_King** · 05-31-2005

UbiSoft is a french company.

**Smily0012** · 05-31-2005

No one said it wasnt. It started out in France but there are other division of it in other countries such as Candada.

**Cody** · 05-31-2005

Quebec is french by the way Chaotic

**Smily0012** · 05-31-2005

Originally Posted by Chaotic_King

Originally Posted by Smily0012

Can you show some evidance of this. If any comapny ws that much in negative then they have a serious problem.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=SNE

Thanks for the info, i seriously didnt know that they were in the negative. But from their profit it seems that they should be done with their debt in a few years. I think this mostly becuase they spent lots of money at aquiring new studios and research. Is there any way you can show us their profit and debt form the last 10 years.

02-28-2007

I wrote this editorial during the NA launch and i was wondering if i should it edit it to fit the European launch, i could add the new games out for it and just generally update it!

[quote]The Case for the PlayStation 3
By: Wali Bayat
12/14/06

With the massive PS3 launch and surrounding hype passing over us this Friday, many misconceptions and numerous questions still remain regarding Sonyâ€™s next generation console.

Ever since E3 2006, gamers are still in shock over the large price tag of the PS3. The fact that Sony followed Microsoftâ€™s two tier system which included a neutered 20 gig model that lacked HDMI caused some unrest in Sony fans. Throughout the course of the summer, gamers were bombarded with negative news about the console and battered with misleading propaganda, spread around by companies competing with Sony. Once TGS rolled around, gamers expected change, and they were welcomed with just that.

Change first appeared in the form of a HDMI output for the 20 gig model. It was during this time that the phrase â€œfuture proofâ€