Assassin's Creed maker Ubisoft considers going private
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Chinese tech company Tencent and Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family are weighing a take-private buyout of the French video game maker, whose shares are down more than 40% this year, as first reported by Bloomberg and quasi-confirmed by the company.
The big picture: Many of Ubisoft's problems are self-inflicted, including a possible class action lawsuit over user privacy issues, but those have been exacerbated by online criticism — including by Elon Musk — that the company's next Assassin's Creed game is too "woke" because it its lead characters include a Black samurai.
- Does it matter that the character is historically accurate? Apparently not. Does it impact Ubisoft's reputation and sales? Apparently so, with Ubisoft's CEO referencing "polarized comments" during a disappointing earnings call.
By the numbers: Ubisoft shares were down more than 50% this year before the take-private news, which bumped its market cap up to around €1.8 billion.
- Its enterprise value is north of €3 billion, with the company reporting €158 million of profit on €2.3 billion of revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2024.
Go deeper, via Bloomberg: "Several private equity firms including Blackstone and KKR were studying potential bids for Ubisoft in 2022 ... Later that year, the founding family partnered with Tencent, which bought 49.9% of the Guillemot holding company in addition to the direct stake it held in Ubisoft. The deal was seen by analysts as a way of keeping suitors at bay, allowing the brothers to remain in control of Ubisoft's governance."
