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Ubisoft’s CEO says company ‘has everything it needs to remain independent’ (VGC)

kingfey

Banned

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has commented on recent speculation that the company could be the subject of a takeover bid.

The French publisher, which has delayed a significant number of product launches in the last few years and whose reputation has been tarnished by a workplace misconduct scandal, has become the subject of much speculation in recent months amid a growing trend of consolidation in the games industry.

Last month it was reported that the company behind the Rainbow Six and Far Cry series was attracting takeover interest from several private equity firms, including Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co.

And last week it was claimed that Ubisoft’s founding Guillemot family was considering teaming up with a private equity firm to acquire the company.

“There has been a lot of talk around consolidation in the industry and in Ubisoft in particular,” CEO Guillemot said during the company’s full-year earnings call on Wednesday (transcribed by VGC).

“Our overall position is clear and well known. As we said last February, we have everything we need to remain independent. We have the talent, the industrial and financial scale, and a large portfolio of powerful IPs to create massive value in the coming years.

“It has provided us with the plan to build strategic partnerships with the biggest players in entertainment and tech. The current speculation is putting in plain sight the real appeal and value of our assets and of our value creation potential.

As mentioned before, as a public listed company, it is best practice for our board to review any offer in the interest of all shareholders and of our great teams.”

Guillemot said he wouldn’t be making any further comment on the subject during the remainder of the call.

M&A activity in the games industry hit a record $85 billion in 2021 and has been forecast to reach $150 billion this year, with huge deals such as Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two’s buyout of Zynga having already been announced in 2022.

During today’s earnings call, Ubisoft also provided an update on its product release slate, including premium games Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Skull & Bones.
 

yurinka

Member
10 bucks says, Tencent would buy Ubisoft.
No, Tencent won't buy Ubisoft. They can't buy more Ubisoft stocks:

"The Ubisoft deal seems like it will be typical of Tencent's dealings with overseas firms to date. A minority shareholding suits the company fine; there are actually safeguards in its contract with Ubisoft preventing it from increasing that shareholding, but the past seven or eight years of Tencent's history suggests that it's perfectly relaxed with remaining in a minority position anyway."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-22-for-ubisoft-its-goodbye-vivendi-hello-tencent#:~:text=Chinese firm Tencent is taking,to an already formidable bow.

they make enough yearly to stay indecent regardless how much people complain about AC and Ghost recon they always chart.
According to some they are doomed and struggling, but:
ubisoft-annual-sales.jpg
 
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kingfey

Banned
No, Tencent won't buy Ubisoft. They can't buy more Ubisoft stocks:

"The Ubisoft deal seems like it will be typical of Tencent's dealings with overseas firms to date. A minority shareholding suits the company fine; there are actually safeguards in its contract with Ubisoft preventing it from increasing that shareholding, but the past seven or eight years of Tencent's history suggests that it's perfectly relaxed with remaining in a minority position anyway."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-22-for-ubisoft-its-goodbye-vivendi-hello-tencent#:~:text=Chinese firm Tencent is taking,to an already formidable bow.
Activision was off the list from sale. And now MS bought them.

Anything can happen, if Tencent offers the right price.
 

jaysius

Banned
Yup, they've got the 2-3 game types they keep rehashing and the friendly relations with gaming "journalists"(hype machines/game advertisers). To keep going forever, no matter how bad the shit is the put out.

They know they're making hot dogs, foreskin and all, they've got the health inspectors paid off and the masses are still eating up the same old shit.
 
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yurinka

Member
Activision was off the list from sale. And now MS bought them.

Anything can happen, if Tencent offers the right price.
Yes, everything can change. Kotick didn't want to sell until he changed his mind. But as of now Ubisoft seems doesn't want or need to sell.
 

kingfey

Banned
Yes, everything can change. Kotick didn't want to sell until he changed his mind. But as of now Ubisoft seems doesn't want or need to sell.
They are waiting for the right price. $67b for activision is making them think of the best offer to get, while they are in good shape.

While Ubisoft games are not the top notch, they basically print money like crazy. This makes their evaluation higher, than what they are currently at.
 

yurinka

Member
They are waiting for the right price. $67b for activision is making them think of the best offer to get, while they are in good shape.

While Ubisoft games are not the top notch, they basically print money like crazy. This makes their evaluation higher, than what they are currently at.
Nah, the Guillemot family want to keep having their family business and their workers -who also own a big chunk of stocks, I don't know the amount- wants to continue having them as bosses.

If something they'll want to find a big partner who would help them buy a big chunk of stocks to secure the control of a majority of the stocks while allowing them to continue in total control of the company, fully independent and fully multiplatform. Someone who wouldn't affect them on creative decisions or with who they partner with. Someone like a bank, or maybe even one of the owners of the world like Blackrock, Vanguard and similar.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
According to some they are doomed and struggling, but:
ubisoft-annual-sales.jpg

Because sales are not profits.

ubisoft-net-income.jpg


They still need to claw back the 2019-2020 investment year which they will I have no doubt considering its only just shy of 20 million, but you can't just look at the sales, because they don't factor any outgoing's.
 
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yurinka

Member
Because sales are not profits.

They still need to claw back the 2019-2020 investment year which they will I have no doubt considering its only just shy of 20 million, but you can't just look at the sales, because they don't factor any outgoing's.
They made 2224M last year (and growing), 20M (or that 124M) is nothing for them.

They simply reduce a bit their purcases of coffe, toilet paper or something like that, make some extra discount in a few random games, ask Phil to put some random game on GP like Extraction, or reduce some marketing campaign, or cut a couple of things from a game to ship it faster and they get these 20-124M back.

When you make an insanely huge revenue, to have a bit (proportionally to the revenue) more or less of profit/loss doesn't matter, and if you want to tweak it you only need to adjust minor costs/investments.

PS: Just saw they released their FY numbers today, not included in the chart: 2,125.2M€ in sales and 79.5M€ in consolidated operating income. Nice to see all their cost detailed (over 1B€ for dev salaries and toilet paper in R&D and general and administrative costs, almost half a billion in marketing even without big releases):
image.png
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
PS: Just saw they released their FY numbers today, not included in the chart: 2,125.2M€ in sales and 79.5M€ in consolidated operating income. Nice to see all their cost detailed (over 1B€ for dev salaries and toilet paper in R&D and general and administrative costs, almost half a billion in marketing even without big releases):
image.png

Unsure what you mean by the sales are not included in the chart, its right there at the top of it, they are included and put against the outgoing to show income, which resulted in the chart I linked.

My point is you can't just show a chart on the up and up with 2.1 billion revenue when they also spent 2 billion for the same period, its a little more complex than that. Their not in trouble as they are still showing growth but their not rolling in billions of capital of income.
 
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yurinka

Member
Unsure what you mean by the sales are not included in the chart,
I meant that the chart I included in the first post and the chart you included both covered until the 2020/2021 FY.
In the newest post I added the recently published numbers of the 2021/2022 FY, the most recent ones. So it expands both graphs a bit more.

My point is you can't just show a chart on the up and up with 2.1 billion revenue when they also spent 2 billion for the same period, its a little more complex than that. Their not in trouble as they are still showing growth but their not rolling in billions of capital of income.
Well, the revenue chart shows they make more revenue than most publishers and that are in a growing trend, even with the controversy PR shitshow and no big releases. It shows they are in a big shape.

And they do it without having almost always small profits almost every year (with some as exceptions with small loses, which as I mentioned isn't a big deal).

After some time with covid and delays this FY they will go back to have multiple big releases and new IPs after a period where as an example last year they only had FC6 ('best year ever for the brand' according to them) as big release. They will have Avatar, Mario+Rabbids 2, Skull & Bones, Rocksmith+, The Settlers or F2P games as Roller Champions (this one may tank but I found it fun and innovative) or The Division Heartland.
 
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