Vivendi SA considering sale of Activision-Blizzard - report
Sources claim that the move will be discussed at an executive meeting this month
The French media conglomerate Vivendi SA will host a senior executive meeting in Corsica later this month to discuss the sale of its 61 per cent stake in Activision-Blizzard.
According to a report on Bloomberg, based on the testimony of several anonymous sources, the goal of the meeting is to discuss strategies to combat the steady decline in its stock price, which has fallen from around €19 to around €13 in the space of a year.
Since the publication of the Bloomberg story, Vivendi's share price has increased by as much as 69 cents to €13.80. However, a spokesman for the company has claimed that the executive meeting has taken place annually since 2005, and there is no fixed agenda for this year.
Vivendi owns a number of media companies, including the Canal+ Group, the Universal Media Group, and telephone operators in France, Morocco and Brazil. Activision-Blizzard is Vivendi's fourth largest unit, but its second fastest growing after the Brazilian phone operator GVT.
The company is also thought to be considering splitting in half, with its media units (Universal Music Group, Activision-Blizzard, Canal+) in one part, and its telecomms units (SFR, GVT, Maroc Telecomm) in the other. However, the sources that the sale of one unit would be preferred over a more radical structural overhaul.