Vivendi to Acquire Activision

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Vivendi on Sunday said it plans to acquire a controlling stake in Santa Monica-based Activision in a deal that creates a rival to Electronic Arts as the world’s largest independent video game publisher.


The combination, to be known as Activision Blizzard will be more profitable and have higher operating margins than Redwood City, Calif-based EA, the companies claim.


Activision’s emphasis is on making games for consoles, like the Sony Playstation. It sells one of the industry’s current best sellers, Guitar Hero, which allows players to strum along on a specialized guitar to tunes played on television. Vivendi’s strength is in online games like World of Warcraft, which has more nine million players worldwide.


Activision shares were up $3.34, or 15.1 percent, to $25.49 in midday trading on the Nasdaq after jumping to a 52-week high of $26.72 earlier in the session.

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