Infogrames Completes Atari Acquisition

French publisher Infogrames (Alone In The Dark) has officially completed its acquisition of U.S. based Atari, Inc. Although Infogrames was previously the majority shareholder, Atari now becomes a wholly owned subsidiary. Infogrames will pay $1.68 per share for all outstanding shares of Atari common stock not already owned by Infogrames or its affiliates. This gives the merger an approximate value of $11 million, which Infogrames will pay for from existing cash resources. The management team of Atari, Inc. (which is unrelated in all but name and logo to the original Atari video games company) joins the Infogrames group, led by recently appointed president and CEO Jim Wilson, senior vice president of sales Tim Flynn and vice president of marketing Jeff Reese. The merger simplifies the relationship between the two companies, with a new global structure intended to reduce general and administrative expenses (including those related to being a U.S. public company) and generate economies of scale. Atari's management team has been tasked with furthering the company’s U.S. distribution business and creating new partnerships. Developing the company’s online operations will also be a priority, as Infogrames focuses more on the casual market. "The completion of this merger is an important step in the implementation of our strategy. Reshaping US operations was a key element of our ‘Atari transformation’ plan,” says Infogrames president and CEO David Gardner. "Profitable first quarter results were reached thanks to the tremendous work accomplished by Jim [Wilson] and his team," he adds. "The completion of the merger creates a simplified efficient global structure that we anticipate will generate greater opportunities to expand US distribution capabilities and strengthen our platform for global online initiatives."