Kind of like how a marriage seals a relationship, Activision and Vivendi/Blizzard tied the knot as the company announced that at a special meeting of stockholders held earlier today, it received the stockholder approval necessary to merge with Vivendi. All of the proposals required to effect the transaction received more than 92 percent of the shares voted. The transaction is expected to close on or around July 9, 2008.
Activision and Vivendi Games will combine their businesses through the merger of a newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision. As a result of the merger, Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision. Vivendi will receive approximately 295.3 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase approximately 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share for a total of approximately $1.7 billion in cash, resulting in a total Vivendi ownership stake in Activision Blizzard of approximately 52% on a fully diluted basis and approximately 54% of shares outstanding. As of the closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Blizzard is a worldwide pure-play online and console game publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry. Activision Blizzard maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania, Australia, Chile, India, Japan China, the region of Taiwan and South Korea.
