Approximately 6 years ago, Electronic Arts acquired a 20 percent stake in Ubisoft. The purchase, was consequently considered a “hostile” act. Now, the company has sold every share it had in the French publishing giant.
Electronic Arts’ confirmed it has sold all of its stake in Ubisoft recently, which is an estimated 15 percent portion. Apparently, EA had been Ubisoft’s largest stake holder, as the Wall Street Journal reports:
EA has elected to sell its interest in Ubisoft Entertainment. Our strategic priorities have changed since our initial investment. More recently, the Ubisoft position has been viewed as a portfolio holding, rather than a strategic holding. Today, EA is the world’s foremost publisher of packaged goods games. We remain focused on growing our capability as a developer and distributor of online content and services. We maintain the highest respect for Ubisoft’s creative leaders and the management team that runs their business.
Although a Ubisoft spokesperson could not reveal any information on when Electronic Art’s share had been completely sold or how much the stock was valued at, the spokesperson seemed to be cheerful about the news:
This is good news for Ubisoft, which regains its independence, although Electronic Arts has always supported our strategy.
In regards to how much the actual stock was valued at, Bloomberg Businessweek claimed Electronic Art’s 15 percent stake in the French publisher had totaled to 94 million Euros ($122 million).
[Source]
