330°

Vivendi: unwinding of hedge and disposal of Activision Blizzard shares

Vivendi Activision Blizzard stock has been sold for $1.1 Billion.

itsjustexuma3021d ago

What if Sony bought those shares and with that will get Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and other charactors to the PS4?

Kalebninja3021d ago

crash and spyro have nothing to do with blizzard though.

whoyouwit043021d ago

Do you not understand Activision/blizzard stock? Meaning stock in both companies

Kalebninja3021d ago

I looked it up, I understand now. Its not activision and blizzard stock Activision blizzard is one company. I didn't know that Activision merged with vevindi and apparently they are now called Activision blizzard.

whoyouwit043021d ago (Edited 3021d ago )

To bad Sony can't afford to. If any consomanufacturer would of bought this stock it's Microsoft.

MasterCornholio3021d ago

They achieve studios through different methods.

WeAreLegion3021d ago

The Xbox division of Microsoft is separate. Microsoft itself isn't going to do that.

UltraNova3021d ago

@Wearelegion

How's Phil Spencer asking the MS board for 1.1 billion to buy those shares any different than MS buying them?

Does the Xbox division have its own, separate income/revenue and therefor budget?

Who do they answer to, at least economically?

So if the head of Playstation wants to buy a game studio Sony has nothing to do with it?

3020d ago
joeorc3020d ago (Edited 3020d ago )

@whoyouwit04 + 12h ago
To bad Sony can't afford to. If any consomanufacturer would of bought this stock it's Microsoft.

I would not be too quick to lay claim to the idea Sony could not afford to do such.

You do know or may not know Sony still has billions of Dollars in the bank as cash reserve's.

@ below the PlayStation section for Sony is the 5th largest profit generated subsidiary of Sony and no where near being its #1

2nd the valuation of a companies stock & net worth in market value is really subjective on how its future stock performance can pan out. Or if it can pan out. Since than over all these posts about Sony's stock valuation, Sony's stock value raised fro. 17 billion now well past 17. It went to over 32 billion just 4 months ago.

The company has asset holdings well over 100 billion, and PlayStation as a section is simple a asset held with no stock buy into playstation its simply among other whole owned subsidiary revenue streamers.

So like the purchase of Softkinetic recently its made to generate cash flow for Sony &/the more they invest into such the more increase chance.of increase in Revenue & Profits.

And again its not even the #1 main profit generated subsidiary for Sony. Buying massive stock into another software publisher unless.you intend for 100% control buy out may not be in your companies best Interests when said company is also a software publisher.

It would depend if Sony &/Said company see it as viable.

3020d ago
+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 3020d ago
OpieWinston3021d ago

Sony will probably continue working on their partnership with Activision via future CoD/Destiny titles. That's how they'll work out a deal for a Crash licensed game.

But as far as Spyro... That'll probably never happen, as much as I would love for it to happen. They wouldn't want to create product confusion with Skylanders.

But Sony doesn't have the capital to make that type of investment and even if they did it wouldn't be in their best interests.

UKmilitia3021d ago

exactly.
activision can hear the wants and desires of gamers.
but it will get to the point that numbers take over and amount of ps4 consoles sold will make the deal happen.

Khaotic3021d ago

People disagree because they think your a slamming their precious sony. But youre right it wasnt that long ago they were in serious financial trouble and im sure the success of ps4 has helped alot but it takes awhile to bounce back from near bankruptcy

Crimzon3021d ago

lol @ the disagrees

Anyways, we'll probably see shares for other companies being sold over the coming months as well given the extremely fragile nature of the global economy and stock markets right now. The general message coming out of Wall Street right now is "Sell everything!" so I wouldn't be surprised to see more shares being offloaded from various companies. There's a chance we could be seeing another global financial crisis this year.

TwoForce3021d ago

Well, time change I suppose. The future could happen but when you reach there, it will be different than you expected.

WeAreLegion3021d ago

Spyro hasn't played a big role in Skylanders since the first game. Kids don't care about Spyro. Sony should buy the IP. Same with Crash.

joeorc3020d ago

"But Sony doesn't have the capital to make that type it investment and even if they did it wouldn't be in their best interests."

Sony most likely has the capital.
As for being in their best interests in spending it for such an Acquisition you are most likely correct. And I agree with you.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3020d ago
Thunder_G0d_Bane3021d ago

Yeah neither of those characters would be worth 1.1 billion now.

Despite fanboy nostalgia those games started to not sell well hence why they stopped making those games. If they were selling well they'd still be around.

BitbyDeath3021d ago

But all these would -

Activision:
Call of Duty series
Skylanders series
Spyro the Dragon series
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series
Guitar Hero series

Blizzard Entertainment:
Warcraft series
StarCraft series
Diablo series
Heroes of the Storm
Overwatch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

I'm reading this over and over, must be reading it wrong somehow....???

rainslacker3020d ago

It means Sony would own about 4% of Activision Blizzard. Doesn't mean Sony would acquire rights to use those franchises.

While 4% is no small sum of ownership in a company, and it does afford some bargaining power, it doesn't actually mean anything otherwise.

Sony owned 20% of Square Enix stock for a while, but it didn't stop SE from going multi-plat. Sony brought the stocks in SE to help them when they were struggling, but ultimately, despite SE returning the favor for many years...didn't change anything other than Sony made profit off of SE dividends.

Since I doubt Vivendi is selling off stock because A/B is struggling, I doubt they'd feel inclined to give away stuff which could potentially make more money by remaining open.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3020d ago
kopko3021d ago (Edited 3021d ago )

Well, Activision Blizzard is the largest game company on the market. Too bad they hold rights to game and titles like Crash or Spyro and many others. I dont think they would sell it cheap, because why would they? They have shitload of $$$, no need to sell any rights to other companies.

imo the name Activision Blizzard sounds sooo weird

FinalomegaS3020d ago

"Activision Blizzard is the largest game company on the market"

really?

i checked and seems there is maybe even one bigger than them.

Maybe we should just say,

they are one of the largest...?

kopko3020d ago

Thanks for correcting me, you are right. Still, they are one of the biggest players in the market.

Budrazor3020d ago

MS should had jumped on that like they did with Mojang.

gangsta_red3020d ago

Yea, it's amazing how much they spent on the Minecraft devs and I can understand why with its popularity and all but when I see these types of dev/publishers up for grabs I don't understand why no one swoops them off when they have a whole portfolio of strong selling IP's.

Oh well, this is a high level world that I cannot even begin to understand.

rainslacker3020d ago

It's a stable and profitable stock to own, but beyond that, it doesn't really provide much in the way of them getting something exclusive to use for their purposes. If that was the intent in buying the stock, then it's better they didn't jump on it, because not much would have come from it. 1.1 billion is only 4% of A/B worth.

160°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv7214h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle1h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Cacabunga40m ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

purple1013h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos3h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac2h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1011h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Show all comments (11)
90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

Read Full Story >>
blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS11h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.

150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos1d 3h ago (Edited 1d 3h ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers23h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken10h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g19h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing19h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H919h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola15h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66918h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle18h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

Show all comments (14)