Activision Blizzard, the world’s biggest video game publisher, has a reached an $8.2 billion deal to separate from Vivendi and become an independent company.
Under a deal that was announced early Friday, Activision Blizzard and a group of investors led by the company’s management will buy back shares owned by Vivendi, the French conglomerate that controls the video game maker, leaving a majority of Activision Blizzard’s shares held by the investing public.
Activision Blizzard will buy about 429 million of its shares shares and certain tax attributes from Vivendi for roughly $5.83 billion in cash, or $13.60 a share, the company said. In addition, Robert A. Kotick, 50, the chief executive, and Brian Kelly, the co-chairman, are leading a group in buying about 172 million shares of the company from Vivendi for about $2.34 billion.
Vivendi will retain a stake of about 12 percent, or 83 million shares, in Activision Blizzard, the company said. Mr. Kotick will continue to lead the company and Mr. Kelly will become the sole chairman, according to the terms of the deal.
The transactions are a “tremendous opportunity†for Activision Blizzard, the maker of popular game franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Diablo, Mr. Kotick said in a statement.
“We should emerge even stronger,†he said. “The transactions announced today will allow us to take advantage of attractive financing markets while still retaining more than $3 billion cash on hand to preserve financial stability.â€
The deal represents the latest corporate maneuver for Mr. Kotick, an entrepreneur who, over more than two decades, has built Activision Blizzard into a giant with a market capitalization of nearly $17 billion.
He bought the company that would become Activision in 1990, when it was nearly bankrupt, and proceeded to raise money from investors. In 2008, Mr. Kotick led one of the biggest video game mergers in history when he combined Activision with the games division of Vivendi, a unit that mostly consisted of Blizzard Entertainment.
Activision Blizzard, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., has had a number of hits recently, notably Call of Duty.
Activision Blizzard, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., has had a number of recent hits, including the multibillion-dollar franchise Call of Duty. The latest edition of the game, released in November, had sales of $500 million in its first 24 hours.
Speculation emerged over the past year that Vivendi would look to sell its stake in Activision Blizzard. With the deal announced on Friday, Activision Blizzard is betting it can prosper on its own.
The group of investors led by Mr. Kotick and Mr. Kelly â€" which also includes Davis Advisors, Leonard Green & Partners and Tencent â€" is expected to have roughly a 24.9 percent stake in the company. Mr. Kotick and Mr. Kelly have personally committed $100 million.
Activision Blizzard plans to finance the deal with about $1.2 billion of cash on hand and roughly $4.6 billion of debt, raised through the markets and bank financing. The company expects to have $1.4 billion of net debt after the deal, which is expected to close by the end of September.
A special committee of independent directors of Activision Blizzard was formed to evaluate the transaction, the company said. It is being advised by Centerview Partners and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Activision Blizzard is being advised by JPMorgan Chase and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, while the investor group is getting advice from Allen & Company and Sullivan & Cromwell.
The video game maker said on Friday that it expected to report net revenue of about $1.05 billion for the second quarter, using generally accepted accounting principles, with earnings per share of 28 cents. It plans to announce the full results for the second quarter on Aug. 1.
