Rumour: Ubisoft Turmoil Continues as Shareholders Consider Buyout | Push Square
Ubisoft's tumultuous 2024 continues. Word of a potential buyout is starting to spread (again), as the publisher struggles to right itself following a series of poor decisions, layoffs, and general mismanagement.
Back in October, it was reported that shareholders — including Chinese conglomerate Tencent — were weighing up a buyout and turning the publisher private. This is basically a recurrence of that story, although it sounds like talks between said shareholders and Ubisoft's bigwigs are more advanced.
Two anonymous sources have told Reuters that the Guillemot family — the company's largest shareholder, with co-founder Yves Guillemot still serving as Ubisoft CEO — wish to retain control of the business, while other shareholders, like Tencent, buy the publisher out of its current financial woes.
However, it's said that Tencent hasn't committed to anything yet, because it's trying to negotiate a greater degree of control over Ubisoft as a whole. It's speculated that the Chinese giant is simply biding its time; there could soon come a point where other parties attempt a hostile takeover of Ubisoft, and the publisher will have little choice but to agree terms with Tencent and its surrounding shareholders.
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Neither company has provided an official comment on the matter itself. A Ubisoft representative told Reuters: «We remain committed to making decisions in the best interests of all of our stakeholders. In this context, as we have already indicated, the Company is also reviewing all its strategic options.»
Again, Ubisoft has been on a losing streak for quite some time. There were rumours that its development pipeline is in tatters — with Star Wars Outlaws releasing half-baked and Assassin's Creed Shadows delayed into 2025 — and just recently, it confirmed that live service shooter XDefiant would be shutting down in June.
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