The big financial rumor today: Vivendi apparently plans to sell its part of Activision Blizzard. The French media conglomerate currently owns 61 percent of mega-game-publsihers Activision Blizzard.
If you'd like to become the owner of a slightly used game publishing empire, you'll need to pony up around $8.1 billion (with a "b") to purchase Activision. In the event that no buyer is found for the company, Vivendi plans to sell the stake on the open market, according to an unnamed source quoted by Bloomberg.
Vivendi's Chairman, Jean-Rene Fourtou, is reportedly under pressure from investors to boost the stock price of Vivendi, and selling a publicly traded company like Activision is an easy way to re-structure.
In an interview with Reuters, industry analyst Michael Pachter said, "If I am right that there are no buyers. I think the only option left to Vivendi is to lever up Activision's balance sheet and dividend out all of its cash, then spin the company off."
On the news, Activision stock rose about 4 percent.
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