By Ruth Bender and Inti Landauro
PARIS-- Vivendi SA said Thursday it has sold around half of its
remaining stake in videogame maker Activision Blizzard as the group
continues to pile up cash ahead of a leadership change next month,
capping a shift into a media and content company.
Vivendi said it has sold 41.5 million shares, or 5.8% in
U.S.-based Activision, for around $850 million.
The owner of French pay TV group Canal Plus and California-based
Universal Music Group last year sold most of its 61% stake in
Activision for $8.2 billion back to the game maker as part of its
strategy to become a smaller group focused on media activities. The
deal included options to sell the remaining 12% stake later. The
next window opens up in January 2015.
Vivendi has since also sold most of its telecom assets. In April
it agreed to sell its French phone unit SFR to cable investment
firm Altice SA, and last week Vivendi completed the sale of its
stake in Maroc Telecom.
The sale of the Activision stake was carried out through a
bookbuilding process.
"This transaction is part of Vivendi's intention to totally exit
the share capital of Activision Blizzard," Vivendi said in a
statement. The decision to sell the stake comes as Activision's
shares closed at a record high on Wednesday at $20.87.
The slimmed-down Vivendi next month will hand over leadership to
French industrialist Vincent Bolloré, who will take over as
chairman from long-term tenant Jean-René Fourtou, while former
Hearst Corp. executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine will take over as
chief executive.
Vivendi has said it could pursue acquisitions to expand its new
media focus once the SFR sale is complete but the group is expected
to give more detail about its new strategy after the power handover
at a shareholder meeting June 24.
Write to Ruth Bender at Ruth.Bender@wsj.com and Inti Landauro at
inti.landauro@wsj.com
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