Tencent is already the #1 video game company in the world in terms of revenue, with over $32 billion brought in during 2021. Now it’s reportedly looking to turn that money into bigger investments in other publishers, namely Ubisoft.
Reuters reports that Tencent is looking to become Ubisoft’s single largest stakeholder, according to “four sources with direct knowledge of the matter.” It’s not clear just how much of a stake Tencent is looking to own, but considering the Guillemot family currently owns 15% of all Ubisoft stock, Tencent would need at least 16% to take the top spot. To be clear, this would not give Tencent a controlling stake in the company — 80% of Ubisoft stock is owned by public holders, in fact — but it would still be a significant piece of the pie. If you’re doing the math, then you’ll see that Tencent would actually need to acquire a portion of those public stakeholders’ stock to pull it off.
Ubisoft stock prices rose earlier this year, as the Guillemot family was reportedly looking to hold onto control of the company. Rumors of the company being bought out or acquired were strong at the time, but stockholders were looking for a better price before handing over their shares. They may get their wish: Tencent is reportedly offering €100 per share, which is significantly more than the average €44 price they’ve seen over the past three months. That may be the push that’s needed to get Tencent’s foot in the door at another global publisher — one that runs massive franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy.
This would be yet another venture in Tencent’s long line of investments, acquisitions, and products. Over the past year, it’s added Rime developer Tequila Works, Dark Souls Remastered developer 1C Entertainment, and Nightingale developer Inflexion Games to its portfolio. Most recently, it announced a cloud gaming handheld in collaboration with Logitech.
