Activision Blizzard will combine a range of popular franchises such as Guitar Hero

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Activision Blizzard merger finally goes through

Deal creates new gaming giant

Ian Williams, vnunet.com 10 Jul 2008

The deal between video game publishers Vivendi and Activision to create Activision Blizzard has been completed following green lights from all relevant parties.

The deal was announced in December 2007, but did not receive the go ahead from the EU until April and final confirmation from stock holders was reached only this week.

The combined strengths of the two businesses offer "immense growth potential ", according to Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive at Vivendi.

The merger will combine a range of highly popular franchises such as World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, Diablo, Call of Duty, Spiderman and Tony Hawk.

"With more than 10.7 million subscribers on World of Warcraft, and with tens of millions of people playing Guitar Hero, Activision Blizzard's games transcend the traditional stereotypes and are more popular as a form of entertainment than ever before," said Robert Kotick, president and chief executive of the new company.

As part of the deal, shares of Vivendi Games were converted into approximately 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock, of which Vivendi purchased around 62.9 million at $27.50 per share.

This sum of around $1.7bn in cash gives Vivendi 52-54 per cent of Activision Blizzard.

Within five business days of the closing of the transaction, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4bn all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 per share in order to maintain a majority shareholding in the new company.

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