Activision Blizzard Inc. completed buying back its shares from Vivendi Friday afternoon.

The Santa Monica video game publisher acquired about 429 million shares from Vivendi for roughly $5.83 billion, or $13.60 per share.

“We expect immediate shareholder benefits,” Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision, said in a statement. “Our audiences and our incredibly talented employees around the world will benefit from a focused commitment to the creation of great games.”

In a separate deal, Kotick and Activision chairman Brian Kelly also completed buying 172 million company shares from Vivendi for $2.34 billion in cash through their investment vehicle.

The shares from the deal will not be treated as outstanding, which leaves the majority of the remaining 690 million shares in the hands of public shareholders. Vivendi will still retain about a 12 percent stake in Activision.

Activision shares closed Friday up slightly at $17.08 on Nasdaq, then rose slightly to $17.12 in after-hours trading.