Tencent and Guillemot family reportedly planning Ubisoft buyout

Tencent and Guillemot Brothers Ltd have been exploring methods to stabilise Ubisoft within the wake of its current troubles, which might consequence within the pair shopping for out the writer and taking it non-public.

Sources near the matter instructed Bloomberg that the 2 firms have spoken to advisors about potential routes ahead, though these concerns are at an early stage with no assure they’ll result in a buyout.

The information follows the call from a minority shareholder, AJ Investments, for Ubisoft to go non-public following sharp declines within the firm’s share value.

Ubisoft’s market capitalisation stands at €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) after shares have fallen 54% thus far this 12 months. The value dropped to a ten-year low after the launch of Star Wars Outlaws, which the corporate has since admitted noticed “softer than anticipated” gross sales.

Guillemot Brothers Ltd is an organization run by the household of the identical identify, a few of which based Ubisoft – together with the writer’s long-serving CEO Yves Guillemot. GBL holds simply over 20% of the writer’s voting rights, whereas Tencent holds 9.2%.

In 2022, Tencent increased its stake in GBL, not directly rising its funding in Ubisoft.

Bloomberg reached out to Ubisoft, GBL and Tencent for remark. The primary two declined, whereas the latter has but to reply.

Following its monetary troubles and the disappointing gross sales of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft reduced its financial targets for the current year, delayed Murderer’s Creed Shadows to February 2025, and initiated an inner assessment on how the corporate can enhance its efficiency.

We mentioned Ubisoft’s woes in a recent edition of The GamesIndustry.biz Microcast, whereas contributing editor Rob Fahey explored the factors behind the publisher’s struggles in his column.

He wrote: “Ubisoft stays an extremely necessary a part of the video games business panorama, and everybody working within the business, particularly in Europe, would finally profit from it being in a more healthy and better-managed state – which is not going to be achieved by bringing in a bunch of fresh-faced MBA-wielders to slash and burn. It might, nonetheless, even be onerous to realize that more healthy and better-managed state with out actual change on the high of the corporate.”