The possibility of major upheaval at Ubisoft became a little more clear today because Reuters reports that the company’s shareholders are currently considering how to structure a buyout of the company, which, ironically, would leave control of the founding Guillemot family.
First, there was the option of redemption reported in Octoberalthough at the time it seemed more like the opposite idea: Ubisoft was in trouble and something – almost anything – had to be done. This fresh report, which cites two people “familiar with the matter,” sounds more like a concrete step forward in the sense that there is an busy push for this to happen.
According to the report, the dispute appears to be unresolved over who will rule if a deal goes through. Sources cited by Reuters say that the Guillemot family, which founded Ubisoft in 1986, wants to retain control of the company. Tencent, Ubisoft’s second-largest shareholder and Guillemot’s alleged accomplice in this boardroom boogie, wants to have more of a say in management matters and is reportedly waiting for an agreement on the matter – which, in my opinion, essentially amounts to a capitulation – before committing to financing transaction.
This is an engaging place for the Guillemots. A few years ago, Ubisoft fought a long war to maintain it independence from Vivendia French media conglomerate that announced a hostile takeover bid in 2016, and its CEO Yves Guillemot made clear in the following years that lack of interest in purchasing by anyone.
But Ubisoft is also currently facing sedate problems: sales of Star Wars Outlaws, which should have been a clear hit, were “softer than expected”, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, another addition to Ubisoft’s largest and most popular series, was delayed by three months last minute, from November 15 to February 14, 2025
The latest news is no better. Earlier this week Ubisoft I turned off XDefiantplanned Call of Duty competitor – a particularly ugly move since it came less than three months after executive producer Mark Rubin insisted that XDefiant “absolutely not dying” The end of XDefiant also resulted in the dismissal of as many as 277 employees and the closure of two production studios.
This is all bad news for gamers, but the real problem is Ubisoft’s financial situation. The company’s share price has fallen from a high of over $85 in early 2021 to just over $13 today. Whether anything will ultimately come out of these negotiations is an open question for now, but shareholder pressure is mounting, delaying certain actions: if the Guillemots don’t do it, somethingthey may soon discover that something has been done for them (or for them).
