Tencent and Guillemot family considering buyout of Ubisoft, report says

rockpapershotgun.com:

Ubisoft has had a rough year or more, losing almost half its share value in 2024 due to the underwhelming performance of Star Wars Outlaws and the delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows, among other issues. Now Tencent and Ubisoft's founders, the Guillemots, are considering buying out the publisher, reports say.

A report by Bloomberg cited "people familiar with the matter," saying Tencent and Guillemot Brothers Ltd were considering their options. Both parties are currently minority shareholders of Ubisoft, with Tencent controlling around 9% of shares and the Guillemots owning around 20.5%.

Other minority shareholders have been speaking out against the Guillemots' leadership of the company in recent months, pushing for the board to "take Ubisoft private or allow it to sell to strategic investor".

Shareholders' frustrations had been growing for some time, but peaked following the "softer than expected" performance of Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft took the unusual decision in its wake to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows, their tentpole release in Q4, despite the game being ready to ship, in favour of adding new features and story quests designed to bolster its reception when it now launches next February.

Ubisoft's shares rose around 33% in the wake of Bloomberg News' report of the buyout being considered.

There has been recurring chatter about someone buying Ubisoft for years, whether private equity sniffing around in 2022, which is when Tencent got involved, or long-running efforts by Vivendi to take over the company in the 2010s. Guillemot has previously maintained they'd consider selling if someone offered; maybe now we'll see if other shareholders would consider selling to him.