For over a decade now Vivendi has been buying up Ubisoft stock with an overall ambition to take over the publisher by the way of money. More shares = more control. The seemingly hostile takeover even spilled onto the E3 stage, with Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot making special note in recent years of its threatened independence. Today comes word that Vivendi will be selling all 30 million of its Ubisoft shares.

Threat crisis over.


With Vivendi agreeing to not buy any Ubisoft shares for the next five years. Adding an extra dimension to the news comes word that a portion of these shares have been sold to Chinese mobile and online giant Tencent - where a new partnership between the two companies has been struck. To bring Ubisoft titles into the Chinese market.

Yves Guillemot, CEO and Co-Founder, said: “The evolution in our shareholding is great news for Ubisoft. It was made possible thanks to the outstanding execution of our strategy and the decisive support of Ubisoft talents, players and shareholders. I would like to warmly thank them all. The investment from new long-term shareholders in Ubisoft demonstrates their trust in our future value creation potential, and Ubisoft’s share buy-back will be accretive to all shareholders. Finally, the new strategic partnership agreement we signed will enable Ubisoft to accelerate its development in China in the coming years and fully leverage a market with great potential.”