Shareholders Looking At Ubisoft Buyout Options, Guillemot Family Wants To Stay In Charge, Tencent Watching Patiently

When it rains, it pours.

Just a few days ago, Ubisoft announced the closure of their "not dying" shooter xDefiant. Previous to that, the company (and it's stock price) has been under assault for the underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws, the delay of the latest Assassin's Creed, layoffs, lawsuits stemming from "return to office" mandates, and more.

In response to reports that the company was considering taking the company private again, Ubisoft just kind of took the "we always consider all options" approach. 

Now Reuters is reporting that shareholders are discussing buyout options for the company. The information comes from "two people familiar with the matter" and who are speaking on the "condition of anonymity."

As things stand right now, the Guillemot family controls about 15% of the company, and Chinese tech giant Tencent holds second place in ownership at about 10%. The Guillemot family wants to retain control going forward and seems to be looking at Tencent for some help in a partnership deal. Tencent, for its part, is reportedly sitting back and weighing its options. Whether they'll commit to a larger investment seems to hinge on them waiting until they see if they can acquire more say in board decisions and cash flow.

Both the Guillemot family and Tencent are apparently still in discussions to avoid any potential hostile takeover from other investors.

Ubisoft's trading is up on the news, but where things land still seems uncertain.

Look, obviously I have no say in what happens here. If I did, I think I would want to part the company from the Guillemot family at this point. Ubisoft has obviously had issues with specific projects, but all game companies have those types of issues from time to time. I don't hold the CEO of Activision responsible for the cancellation or delay of a single title. More often than not, that CEO wasn't involved in many decisions that led to the delay.

I DO start holding CEOs responsible when your company can't seem to get a single product out the door in a complete fashion, on time, and if your company just has issue after issue with staffing, employee treatment, and HR issues, all of which Ubisoft has had over the last two years. THAT type of culture/performance comes from the top. I can see why Tencent still sees value in Ubisoft, but I can also see why they wouldn't be ready to commit to a larger investment without more control.

Honestly, that should come with the removal of the Guillemot family, but Tencent may need to deal with them (at least in the short term) to get a deal done.