Few Shares Tendered to Activision Blizzard’s Offer

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Activision Blizzard Inc. said it bought back far fewer shares than envisioned because of a rise in share price, thanks to a strong earnings report.

The company, which publishes the popular video game series “Guitar Hero” and “World of Warcraft,” said it would buy only 86,000 shares for $2.37 million as part of a tender offer that ended Wednesday.

Activision Blizzard had offered to buy back as many as 147 million shares at $27.50 each for a total of $4 billion. That offer was in connection with the business combination completed last month, in which Vivendi of Paris merged its Blizzard video-game business with Activision Inc. of Santa Monica. Under the deal, the merged company made a tender offer in which it would buy stock at the same price per share that Vivendi paid Activision.

Because Activision Blizzard shares have traded above $27.50 since the company posted profits that beat analyst estimates, only 86,000 shares were tendered as investors didn’t want to sell at a below-market price.

Activision Blizzard will pay for the shares with cash on hand, the company said in a statement. Vivendi, which now owns 54 percent of Activision Blizzard, agreed to buy another $700 million of shares.

Activision reported earlier this month that net income nearly doubled to $59 million, or 18 cents per share, compared to the same period a year ago. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 19 cents per share.

Activision shares were down 1 cent to $34.49 in mid-morning trading on the Nasdaq.

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