Vivendi Games sale put on hold?

Reports are suggesting that Vivendi Universal has temporarily shelved the sale of its games division following lower than expected bids, but other conflicting rumours state that Microsoft and Take 2 may have teamed up for a bid.

According to a story reported by news agency Reuters, the sale of the games division is on hold due to the low bids received, with the parent company now hoping that the division will be sold on as part of a larger deal for the entire entertainment division.

Several such offers are on the table, although financial details have not yet been revealed. It's known, however, that Vivendi was hoping for about $800 million for the games division alone.

Reuters suggests that the long-running sale negotiations for VU Games, which have now lasted around nine months, are taking their toll on operations at the division - with one source quoted as saying that "right now there's a sort of a bit of a quagmire... It's time to do something."

However, another competing rumour is also doing the rounds, with some sources suggesting that Take 2 and Microsoft may be set to join forces in order to buy out the games division. Take 2 is known to be interested in Vivendi's games assets, and Microsoft is also known to have been involved in buyout negotiations with Vivendi Games earlier this year. It's suggested that the two companies would carve up the assets of the division between them, with console assets going one way and PC assets going elsewhere.

Frankly, however, this sounds a little far fetched. If Microsoft wanted to buy Vivendi, the $800 million price tag would be easily affordable, while Take 2 seemed confident recently in its ability to raise that amount for a buyout through private financing partnership. Besides, there's really only one jewel in the Vivendi crown - namely Blizzard - and it's hard to see how that could be divided between the two parties evenly.