Former majority owner of Activision buys stock in Ubisoft and Gameloft

The French media company Vivendi, once famous for being the majority shareholder of Activision, has shown a renewed interest in the video game industry after buying a 6.6% stake in Ubisoft and a 6.2% stake in Gameloft.

Vivendi owned a 63% controlling stake in Activision, but due to restructuring, they decided to sell the majority of their shares, now only holding 6% ownership in the company. They intially sold the majority of their shares for $8.17 billion, and later sold another 5.8% for $850 million.

In response to Vivendi’s purchase of Gameloft stock, Gameloft issued a press release:

“We take note of the unsolicited action on the part of Vivendi. We reiterate our intention to remain independent, an approach that, since our founding 16 years ago, enabled us to become a world leader in mobile gaming, and from 2015, a significant and fast growing actor of mobile advertising. “

Vivendi’s interest in the companies could be alarming, considering that their investment of about $183 million in both companies seems like an almost meager amount compared to their $10 billion dollar warchest, gained from the sales of many of their assets over the past few years – no small part of which came from Activision. 

Why do you think Vivendi is so interested in this companies. What do you make of their investment? Let me know in the comments!