Vivendi acquiring Activision

French media conglomerate Vivendi announced it will acquire a controlling stake in video game developer and publisher Activision. Per terms of the deal, valued at $18.9 billion, Activision and Vivendi Games will combine under the Activision Blizzard banner, effectively creating the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher, with $3.8 billion in pro forma combined calendar 2007 revenues and the highest operating margins of any third-party video game publisher. Activision Blizzard brings together Activision franchises like the blockbuster Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and Tony Hawk series with Vivendi's multiplayer online franchise World of Warcraft, which boasts over 9.3 million subscribers worldwide.

Following completion of the transaction, current Activision chairman and CEO Robert Kotick will serve as Activision Blizzard president and CEO--Bruce Hack, who presently serves as CEO of Vivendi Games, was named vice chairman and COO. "By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences," Kotick said in a prepared statement.

For more on the Vivendi/Activision deal:
- read this release

Related articles:
Vivendi launching new mobile entertainment unit
Vivendi, Greystripe team for free mobile games
Vivendi, Omelet team for mobile game promotion 
Vivendi Universal Games Mobile agrees to BREW