Ubisoft’s turbulent 2024 continues. Word of a potential buyout is starting to spread (again) and the publisher is trying to make things right after a series of bad decisions, layoffs, and general mismanagement.
It was reported back in October that shareholders – including Chinese conglomerate Tencent – were considering a buyout and turning the publisher into a private company. This is basically a repetition of this story, although it seems that the talks between the mentioned shareholders and influential Ubisoft figures are already more advanced.
This was reported by two anonymous sources Reuters that the Guillemot family – the largest shareholder of the company whose co-founder Yves Guillemot still serves as Ubisoft’s CEO – wants to retain control of the company while other shareholders such as Tencent bail out the publisher from its current financial troubles.
However, Tencent is said to have made no commitments yet as it tries to negotiate a greater degree of control over Ubisoft as a whole. It is speculated that the Chinese giant is simply biding its time; The moment may soon come when other parties will attempt a hostile takeover of Ubisoft, and the publisher will have no choice but to agree terms with Tencent and its surrounding shareholders.
