Embracer will split into three companies, including Middle-earth & Friends

rockpapershotgun.com:

Famed mass-layoff-manufacturing corporation Embracer Group are dividing into three companies, which will be listed separately on Sweden’s stock exchange. Those companies are: Asmodee Group, which comprises Embracer’s tabletop games biz; Coffee Stain & Friends, an evolution of the existing Coffee Stain publisher, who will pursue "a dual focus on indie and A/AA premium and free-to-play games for PC/console and mobile"; and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, “a creative powerhouse in AAA game development and publishing for PC and console, as well as the stewards of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider intellectual properties, among many others”.

After writing roughly 100,000 posts about Embracer’s butchering of vast swathes of the games industry, this is surely my chance to raise a cheer and celebrate the conglomerate’s unglomming with a cool glass of turnip juice, but it is Monday, the man next door is shouting again, and I am tired - so tired that only ill-suited Simpsons references come to mind.

Besides, I’m not sure how much of this is Embracer “breaking up” versus Embracer moving the pieces around. Even as Embracer trisect themselves, the investment firm run by CEO and cofounder Lars Wingefors will keep their current holdings within the group - “approximately 20% of capital and 40% of votes” – and will form “a new long-term ownership structure” so as to “remain a long-term, active, committed and supportive owner of all three entities."

The announcement release frames the decision as the result of "a careful and thorough review" in the wake of Embracer's massive cost-cutting enterprise over the past year. It offers the following investorspeak breakdown of the arguments for dividing the pie:

- The entities will have sufficient scale, coupled with clearer operational strategies and financial profiles that enable simplified equity stories to attract a larger pool of investors. Current shareholders can freely decide on their capital allocation between the three