[General Discussion] NEW CHALLENGER - Activision Blizzard is Born!

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Activision announced today that at a special meeting of stockholders it received the required stockholder approval to complete the proposed merger with Vivendi Games. The proposals received more than 92 percent of the shares voted, and the transaction is expected to close on July 9.

Under the terms of the deal, Vivendi will receive about 295.3 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock. Vivendi will also purchase around 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share for a total of approximately $1.7 billion in cash. This means that Vivendi will control a 52 percent ownership stake in the newly formed Activision Blizzard, which will continue to be traded on Nasdaq under the familiar ATVI ticker.

The merger immediately creates a new "top dog" in the game industry. The deal values the new Activision Blizzard at $18.9 billion, whereas rival EA's market capitalization after Monday's market close stood at $14.1 billion.

"What it does is create a (first) truly global gaming company with reach in the U.S., Europe and Asia," commented Edward Williams, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets, to Hollywood Reporter. "It also creates a company that drives revenue from multiple streams, including the massively (multiplayer) online game category that is seeing the biggest growth."

More importantly, a number of analysts believe that Activision Blizzard is poised for greater earnings growth, while EA's numbers have slipped somewhat. "I don't care about who is No. 1 and 2," Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst noted. "Earnings growth is what counts for investors."

Activision Blizzard is expected to have the highest margins in the industry. "There is potential for the combined entity to reach 30%-plus operating margins," which easily tops the more common operating margins in the 10%-20% range, explained Sterne, Agee & Leach analyst Arvind Bhatia.

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So two giants of the industry are merging to form one mega nerd conglomerate with a very silly name. You have to like this move from a business perspective as they are bringing together many great IPs from each side (Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft) and providing them all with one giant cash flow (re: World of Warcraft). It also provides more competition for "big video gaming" (re: Electronic Arts) so I approve.

Thoughts? Does anyone care? Countdown until we see Guitar Hero Starcraft edition?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

World of Guitar Herocraft?

But it is exciting to see so many big names under one roof, though one would think with a merger of two such powerful creative entities they'd come up with a better name.

How ya doing, buddy?

Considering that I am very antsy of a few big companies doing EVERYTHING for a bunch of various reasons I'd really rather not go into...

This scares me. A lot.

How ya doing, buddy?

Interesting. And here I was thinking Electronic Arts Games would be the biggest fish out there. When they mean size, are they talking about market capitalization, revenues, or game library? I think the latter two count more.

Most amazing jew boots

In before Tony Hawk's World of Skatecraft.

I just hope this doesn't mess with Blizzard's tradition of polishing a game until it is excellent. Or better yet, maybe it will mean Activision will start polishing games more.

I suppose the other plus is that EA might have to start putting some effort into their games instead of churning out new titles like the soulless industrial machine they are. Of course, with another giant in the industry, we may end up with more mergers from smaller companies just trying to match the fund's of the big boys. It could go very well or very badly.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Did they just merge recently?

I am asking since bunch of WoW nerds at my school were talking about Activision and Blizzard are merging. (Obviously before summer break) Is it true that Activision will fuck off at what Blizzard's doing and vice versa?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Well, of course that's what they're going to say, but as for what they're going to actually do, you'll have to wait a few months for the actual integration to go through.

FELIPE NO

Bard class confirmed for WoW.

The name is still silly.

Blizzard Entertainment will always be Blizzard Entertainment and anything they produce will be considered among the gaming community as coming from the Blizzard Entertainment division of the company.

As for Guitar Hero, I quote South Park

Quote:

YOU. ARE. FAGS.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?