It's not exactly a surprise, but it is official now: Activision today announced that it received the stockholder approval necessary to consummate the company's agreement with Vivendi. So the merger of Activision and Vivendi is complete.  The transaction is expected to close on or around July 9, 2008. Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment and Sierra, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision.

Vivendi will receive around 295.3 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase approximately 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share for a total of approximately $1.7 billion in cash, resulting in a total Vivendi ownership stake in Activision Blizzard of approximately 52% on a fully diluted basis and approximately 54% of shares outstanding.

We predict a lot of shareholder champagne drinking this evening.