Tencent and the Guillemot family are considering moving Ubisoft assets to a new venture, it’s claimed
Ubisoft’s founding family may create a new entity and move some Ubisoft assets over to it
Tencent and Ubisoft’s founding Guillemot family are considering the creation of a new venture containing some Ubisoft assets, it’s claimed.
A new report on Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation, claims the Chinese tech firm and Ubisoft‘s founders are thinking of creating a new entity, which they will then move certain Ubisoft assets over to in an attempt to boost Ubisoft’s value.
The Guillemot family currently owns 14% of Ubisoft’s shares, while Tencent owns 9.99%.
The report suggests that by creating a new venture and moving some of Ubisoft’s IPs over to that, it could allow Tencent to own a stake in the new entity and gain more control over those IPs.
No final decision has been made, the report claims, and it’s also not clear what would happen to the remaining Ubisoft IP that wouldn’t be carried over to the theoretical new venture.
Ubisoft’s share price has seen a general decline over the past few years following numerous underwhelming game releases.
The company’s share price, which reached €84.60 in February 2021, has dropped as low as €11.41 in recent days, following the announcement that Assassin’s Creed Shadows had been delayed again.
This followed other negative news including the decision to close its live service game XDefiant and the disappointing launch performance of Star Wars Outlaws.
Further reading
Last October, Bloomberg reported that Tencent and the Guillemots had been speaking with advisers to explore ways to stabilize Ubisoft, following a year in which its market value more than halved.
Those discussions were said to have included the possibility of the pair teaming up to take Ubisoft private, although talks were said to be at an early stage at the time.
A Reuters report published last month claimed that Ubisoft shareholders were considering how to structure a possible buyout of the company, without reducing the Guillemot family’s control.
Tencent was claimed to be undecided over whether to participate in that buyout and increase its stake in the company, reportedly because it has asked for a greater say on future board decisions. According to Reuters, discussions between the two are ongoing as Tencent also wants to prevent any potential hostile takeover of Ubisoft by other investors.
