Skip to main content

Ubisoft's Guillemot family acquires larger stake in company

Attempts to thwart Vivendi takeover ongoing as founders now own 13.6% of shares, 20% of voting rights

Ubisoft's efforts to stave off a potential takeover by Vivendi are continuing apace. Reuters today reported that Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family has continued acquiring shares in the Assassin's Creed publisher.

Citing a filing with the AMF stock market regulator, the news service said the Guillemots now hold 13.6% of Ubisoft shares, and control 20.02% of voting rights. A year ago, the family held about 9% of Ubisoft share capital.

The Guillemots still need plenty of allies among Ubisoft's shareholder base, as Vivendi holds 27% of Ubisoft's share capital and 24.5% of voting rights.

The former parent company of Activision Blizzard has been accumulating shares in Ubisoft for years, beginning with an October 2015 acquisition of 6.6% of the company's stock. At the time, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot called the purchase "unsolicited and unwelcome," and has been working to maintain the company's independence since.

Read this next

Brendan Sinclair avatar
Brendan Sinclair: Brendan joined GamesIndustry.biz in 2012. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he was previously senior news editor at GameSpot.
Related topics