They’re out
The Guillemot family, best known as the founders of both Ubisoft and Gameloft, will soon be mostly unaffiliated with the latter. Following a successful hostile takeover of Gameloft by Vivendi, the Guillemots have announced that they plan to completely relinquish any control of the mobile publisher.
As reported by MarketWatch, the Guillemot family says that it is “with regret” that it will sell most of its remaining shares to Vivendi. In a statement, they remarked “The family maintains that Vivendi’s hostile approach goes against the best interest of Gameloft, both for its activity and for its teams.” As of April 4, it was estimated that the Guillemots held 21.7 percent of Gameloft’s capital.
Following the hostile takeover, Vivendi stated its intentions to reappoint a majority of the company’s board of directors at its June 29 annual meeting. Vivendi now owns 56 percent of Gameloft’s voting control, meaning that it can essentially do as it pleases. CEO Michel Guillemot is expected to resign then, as he’d likely be ousted if he didn’t quit. With Michel’s resignation, the Guillemot family will cash out and sever all significant ties to Gameloft.
Of course, this is maybe most significant because it could be a precursor to what may happen to Ubisoft. Vivendi has shown an active interest in the popular publisher and it’s rumored that there’s a possible hostile takeover on the horizon there too. The Guillemots are putting up more of a fight on that front, as they’ve recently propositioned a bunch of Canadian investors who presumably wouldn’t sell their shares to Vivendi.
Vivendi succeeds in Gameloft takeover [MarketWatch]