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On Friday, Activision Blizzard managed to close its long-awaited deal to buy back a majority of Vivendi’s stake in Activision for a sum of $8.2 billion. The deal went through after the Delaware Supreme Court struck down the injunction of a lower court that had held up the deal from being completed.
While Activision was ready to buy $5.83 billion worth of its shares, an investor group led by Kotick and Kelly filled in the gap by offering to buy the balance $2.34 billion.
With the deal, Activision Blizzard becomes an independent company under the control of CEO Robert Kotick and its chairman Brian Kelly. The investor group would be controlling 24.9 percent of Activision, Vivendi would control 12 percent and the rest of the shares would be traded in the stock market.
In late July, Activision Blizzard had announced that French conglomerate Vivendi would reduce its stake in the company from 61 percent to 12 percent. However, the plan received a setback when a Delaware Chancery Court intervened and said a shareholder vote was required on the deal.
The Delaware Supreme Court cleared the issue just in time, as the time on the deal would have run out this Tuesday.
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In their decision, the Delaware Supreme Court observed, “The stock purchase agreement here contested is not a merger, business combination or similar transaction” and thus did not require a shareholder vote.
Activision continues to be one of the greatest video game makers with franchises like Word of Warcraft and Call of Duty. Kotick has expressed that the company is going to refocus its energy on new projects beginning with the latest installment of the “Call of Duty” franchise. He is also interested in the new business model of video games tournaments and emerging markets in the East.
