Activision Blizzard (Page 45)

Activision's CEO speaks out against the business practices of its main rival publisher

The EU has concluded its inquiry, granting permission for Vivendi to merge with Activision

Halo-beating online numbers for Xbox 360, with PS3 stats "monstrously huge," according to producer Mark Rubin

Trion World Network founder and CEO Lars Buttler has responded to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's suggestion that it would take a billion dollar investment to be competitive with World of Warcraft

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that he thinks it would take an investment of half a billion to a billion dollars to take on World of Warcraft - and even then, success isn't guaranteed.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium 2008 Conference, Activision chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick said that Take-Two did not fulfull the company's acquisition requirements

An investment group has sued Activision over its impending merger with Blizzard, alleging that the company directors failed to obtain the best deal

Following strong financial results in the past couple of weeks from both Activision and Vivendi Games, one analyst predicts that following the planned merger of the two companies, fiscal 2009 profits could add up to as much as USD 1.38 billion.

Vivendi's approved loan of EUR 3.5 billion for the deals including the Activision Blizzard merger and the acquisition of telecoms company Neuf Cegetel, announced last week, has had its backing syndicate expanded.

The completion of the Activision Blizzard deal has moved a step closer with the news that Vivendi has secured funding to the tune of EUR 3.5 billion

Activision executives Robert Kotick and Brian Kelly stand to make around USD 40 million between them as a result of the deal to merge Activision with Vivendi Games, thanks to their current shareholding in the company.

Stock in Activision rose by nearly 19 per cent across the past week, since Sunday's shock announcement that it had agreed a deal to merge with Vivendi Games.

Following the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, Electronic Arts has told <i>GamesIndustry.biz</i> that there is always a possibility of further acquisitions by the publishing giant.

Ringing in the changes on the ActiBlizz merger

Take-Two Interactive CEO Ben Feder told a business conference that consolidation in the videogame industry is inevitable as growth continues

The value of both Activision and Vivendi's stock increased during the first day of trading following the announcement of a merger between the two companies

The simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich, commenting upon the Activision/Vivendi merger, thinks that acquisitions by media conglomerates have a negative effect on creativity and orginality

US analysts have raised their price targets on Activision in response to news that the company is merging with Vivendi Games

A fact sheet on the newly-live Activision Blizzard web site seems to have announced the forthcoming release of Call of Duty 5 and Guitar Hero IV - both titles that have previously not been mentioned.

Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games analyst at Screen Digest, has told <i>GamesIndustry.biz</i> that the Activision Blizzard merger is a sound one, and could lead to more deals in the future, providing they make good business sense.