Activision Blizzard Acquires King for $5.9 billion

[Junko]

Source

On November 2, 2015, King Digital Entertainment plc and Activision Blizzard, Inc. announced that they reached an agreement under which Activision Blizzard will acquire all of the outstanding shares of King for $18.00 in cash per share for a total equity value of $5.9 billion. The Boards of Directors of both Activision Blizzard and King unanimously approved the proposed transaction, which is being implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under Irish law. The transaction is subject to approval by King’s shareholders and the Irish High Court, clearances by the relevant antitrust authorities and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed by Spring 2016.

Reminder, Disney bought Marvel for $4.24 billion.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Kyoko Kirigiri

[Teoskaven]

Remind me what major franchises King has made.

[Haalyle]

I never knew such a thing as King existed until now. Mustn't be all that popular.

[Tani Coyote]

I never knew such a thing as King existed until now. Mustn't be all that popular.

Remind me what major franchises King has made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company)

Candy Crush Saga is their claim to fame.

As is their infamous trademark trolling.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

 

 

[Haalyle]

Oh that's why I've never heard it. I've never played Candy Crush.

[Teoskaven]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company)

Candy Crush Saga is their claim to fame.

As is their infamous trademark trolling.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

 

 

Oh.

So basically, this is Activision wanting money from some of the highest grossing casual mobile games of all time.

Suddenly, this makes a lot of sense.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Call of Candy Crush.

Can you beat our special Candy Crush stage in order to unlock limited edition perks and skins in the next call of duty.

Give it time it'll happen.

[Blacklightning]

As is their infamous trademark trolling.

Which is kind of hilarious when you think about it, considering they've been known to basically steal entire games themselves.

I'm not convinced much good will come of this.

[McGroose]

The company made a few mediocre Facebook and handheld games that got popular and now they're bought for a billion dollars more than what Marvel was sold for?

Well, I never.

Edited November 3, 2015 by McGroose

[JaidynReiman]

I don't understand the logic here. Is Candy Crush REALLY still that big? These fad games usually die off pretty quickly. Look what happened with Zynga.

I see no good coming from this.

But I'll definitely enjoy watching this backfire in Activision's face.

[Junko]

I don't understand the logic here. Is Candy Crush REALLY still that big? These fad games usually die off pretty quickly. Look what happened with Zynga.

Well, both Candy Crush and Candy Crush Soda (don't ask me) are both still #2 and #3 respectively in the top grossing chart on the Google Play Store and #4 and #5 on the iOS App Store, so it's still hella huge.

According to ThinkGaming, Candy Crush is still getting around $911,040 a day in revenue and around 76,456 installs a day too.

However, the Wall Street Journal reported that King made a 28% drop in profit in Q1 FY2015 as well as revenue in general dropping 18%.

So, we'll see where it's going for Activision Blizzard.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Kyoko Kirigiri

[CrashRatchetFan]

How long does this studio have before it goes under? 

[Phos]

So, they're either going to data mine mercilessly or they wasted a bunch of money.