Vivendi comically buys more stake in Ubisoft, but don’t call it a takeover

Ubisoft isn’t happy

Ubisoft has built a nice little empire for itself, but that empire is in danger if parent company Vivendi keeps on buying up stock in it. Back in 2015 the latter owned 6% of the former. That was raised to 15% in 2016, and Ubisoft founder Yves Guillemot even pleaded to avoid a hostile takeover back in February.

Now, they own roughly 17.73% of capital shares and 15.66% of voting shares. You can see the creep up coming from a mile away, despite the fact that Vivendi is sheepishly saying it has no plans to takeover, like a kid who has cookie crumbs on his mouth and claims he won’t raid the cookie jar any further.

Now, Ubisoft is fighting back once again, noting that they are “not at all surprised by this latest statement from Vivendi. This is a confirmation of their habitual strategy of creeping control, in which they say they have no intention to take control of Ubisoft while steadily increasing their stake and preparing an offensive at the next Annual Shareholders Meeting.” 

Ironically Vivendi’s catchphrase is “living together,” which in Ubisoft’s case, could be altered to “living together, whether you like it or not.” Grab the popcorn, folks.

 Vivendi Tightens Hold On Ubisoft With Additional Stock Purchase, Ubisoft Responds [Game Informer]