In an update to the Vivendi – Activision Blizzard saga, the media conglomerate is holding a board meeting soon where they will be bringing up the proposal to get $ 3 billion from their video game arm.
The company is expected to propose a special dividend payout of that amount, netting Vivendi $ 2 billion thanks to their 60 % stake in the company. Activision Blizzard will fund this payout by taking out a loan, because $ 2.7 billion of their $ 4.3 billion profit is held in offshore accounts.
Vivendi's actions run in parallel with plans to sell their shares in Maroc, a North African telecommunications company, and possibly spin off SFR, a French phone operator and their biggest revenue earner. Vivendi's plans to sell Maroc to Abu Dhabi based company Etisalat is hitting a roadblock of its own, particularly from the Moroccan government.
If Vivendi gets everything they want, the company will renew focus away from services and into content. Aside from Activision Blizzard, they currently own Universal Music Group and premium French pay channel Canal Plus. This will also leave Activision Blizzard with less value as a company. This may sound bad on the surface, but that actually makes it cheaper, and therefore, a more viable acquisition for a third party. It's unclear right now if Bobby Kotick is onboard with this plan, as neither company have responded to requests for comment. We do know he intended and failed to use the game company's money to buy themselves out of Vivendi, but maybe at the end of this he will get what he wanted all along. Expect to learn the final outcome later this week.
