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In 2022, Ubisoft looked like it could be bought out at a substantial premium. Instead, a series of deals that did not result in an acquisition—and disappointing performance from the company’s games—left shareholders facing steep losses.
Ubisoft is a France-based video game publisher known for franchises including Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry. The company has since suffered a sharp decline in fortunes.
In early 2022, the broader market for video game acquisitions intensified. Take-Two announced it would acquire mobile games publisher Zynga at a substantial premium, and Microsoft announced it would buy Activision Blizzard, also at a substantial premium.
Against that backdrop, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in February 2022 that the board was open to reviewing buyout offers if they arrived. In April 2022, the company was reportedly attracting meaningful buyout interest.
In September 2022, news emerged that Tencent was increasing its stake in Ubisoft. The initial reports triggered a significant rise in Ubisoft’s share price, but the details changed the interpretation of the transaction.
While early reporting stated that Tencent was investing 300 billion euros in Ubisoft, the money was actually invested in a holding company for Ubisoft stock owned by Guillemot and his family. As a result, no Ubisoft shares were purchased on the open market by Tencent in that transaction.
The arrangement also included conditions: Tencent was prevented from increasing its stake above the near-10% level it had already reached, and it received a right of first refusal if another party became interested in acquiring Ubisoft.
According to the article, the structure of the deal reduced the likelihood of outside acquisition interest, and subsequent years brought continued underperformance across Ubisoft’s franchises.
In March 2025, Ubisoft announced it would spin off its most successful franchises—Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six—into a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios.
Alongside the spin-off, Ubisoft said Tencent invested 1.16 billion euros to gain a 25% stake in the new business. The article notes that this investment appeared to value Ubisoft’s biggest properties at a premium, but it coincided with another period of heavy selling in the stock.
The article attributes the renewed sell-off to Tencent increasing its exposure to Ubisoft’s most valuable properties while also circumventing the earlier agreement not to increase its stake in the core company above 10%.
Today, Ubisoft has a market capitalization of $647 million. The article states that the company’s share price is down 90% since the beginning of 2022.
Overall, the article frames Ubisoft’s experience as a cautionary example of the risks involved in betting on buyouts—particularly when deal structures and operating results do not align with broader shareholder interests.
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