The Guillemot brothers, who are the founders of Ubisoft, together with the Chinese holding Tencent, are considering buying out the French company and making it private. This was reported by Bloomberg.
Both the Guillemot family and Tencent have stakes in Ubisoft. According to the latest annual report, the founders of the studio have 20.5% of voting shares, and the Chinese company has 9.2%. Both parties are communicating about potential solutions to problems within the company, and a full buyout is one of the potential options.
Sources close to the matter say that the discussions are at an early stage and no final decisions have been made. The Guillemot family and Tencent are also considering alternative methods that could help stabilize the company.
Tencent not only has a 9.2% stake in Ubisoft, but also owns 49.9% of Guillemot Brothers Ltd. In 2022, this deal helped the French company prevent a hostile takeover by Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co., and the restriction of Tencent's stake in Ubisoft itself prevented the Chinese company from interfering in the publisher's affairs. Now everything can change, as Tencent is known for its aggressive promotion of the Western gaming market, which includes a complete takeover of studios.
Both parties began to consider the possibility of buying back Ubisoft's public shares amid the publisher's recent setbacks. During 2024, the company lost 40% of the value of its shares, the studio's latest game Star Wars Outalws showed disappointing results, and the board of directors launched an investigation into internal problems. Earlier, investors even suggested removing Yves Guillemot as CEO.
Following the news of the possible acquisition, the company's shares rose by 33.5% in just a few hours.
