Vivendi, Activision Complete Activision Blizzard Merger

Following its recent shareholder approval representatives have announced that Activision and Vivendi Games have officially merged as Activision Blizzard, with CEO Robert Kotick saying the new company begins with "leading market positions across all categories" of the industry. As earlier reported, the plan makes Vivendi Games a new wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, with parent company Vivendi receiving approximately 295 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock, as it purchases approximately $1.7 billion in additional shares, giving the company just over 50 percent ownership of Activision Blizzard. The company will also put up 146.5 Million of Activision Blizzard shares at $27.50 per share in five business days. It notes that in addition to now controlling the #1 subscription-based MMO World of Warcraft, it also has what it calls the #1 music-based franchise Guitar Hero, the #1 FPS Call of Duty, #1 action sports franchise with Tony Hawk, #1 super hero franchise Spider-Man, #1 sports hunting title Cabela's, and two top 10 children's movie franchises Shrek and Madagascar. CEO Robert Kotick called the completion of the merger "the beginning of an important new chapter in the history of interactive entertainment,” saying that "by combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard has leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry." Added Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime, “From the beginning, our goal has been to make the best games in the world, and this transaction strengthens our ability to do just that. As part of Activision Blizzard we’ll have the reach and resources to share our games with an even wider audience - while maintaining the same approach as always to providing high-quality entertainment and services to our players.”