Vivendi Seeks Buyers for Activision Blizzard: Microsoft, Tencent and Time Warner Named

Vivendi is interested in offloading their ownership of Activision Blizzard, and have reportedly been taking pitches from Microsoft, Time Warner, Tencent, and a number of other equity firms.

To that end, Vivendi has enlisted the help of a bank to speak with potential buyers of Activision Blizzard. Vivendi currently owns a 60% stake in Activision Blizzard and stands to earn $10 billion by selling it off.

"It's nothing official yet, but they've asked a bank to go and talk to possible buyers for Activision," a source at Vivendi's board said to Reuters.

The source suggested that Microsoft is one of the companies that can afford to buy Activision Blizzard, but may not have plans to do so.

"They probably don't want to distract themselves too much, but they are the ones who, if they want to stay in games, would think about owning some of these big franchises, not just providing the consoles," the source said.

There’s a chance that the China-based Tencent may have interest in picking up the company due to their recent partnership with Activision Blizzard to release Call of Duty: Online.