Vivendi Teams up with Banks to Sell Activision Blizzard

Vivendi needs help finding buyers for Activision Blizzard

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Complex Original

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Vivendi has tapped two financial giants, Goldman Sachs Group and Barclays PLC, to help broker the sale of their majority stake in Activision Blizzard, according to the Wall Street Journal. Vivendi, whose stock is currently suffering a nine-year low, own 61 percent of the Call of Duty publisher, worth approximately $8.1 billion.

At the moment, the two firms are attempting to find a potential buyer willing and able to meet the company's 3 Billion dollar asking price. Rumored contenders for the company include Disney, Chinese gaming conglomerate Tencent Holding Limited, Microsoft, and Nexon.

The most popular theory, however, is that Activision Blizzard will buy up its own stock. Though the company doesn't have enough cash on hand to buy its parent company's stake outright, they may be able to buy an increased share of its own stock, should Vivendi put a block of shares on the open market.

According to gaming industry analyst Michael Pachter, Vivendi will most likely be unable to sell the company to a single buyer. "The problem is there are no readily apparent buyers for Activision," says Pachter. "The only option left to Vivendi is to lever up Activision's balance sheet and pay out all of its cash as a dividend, then spin the company off."

Do you care who owns Activision Blizzard? Would you prefer if they were an independent company? Sound off in the comments and on Twitter!

[Via Wall Street Journal]

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