From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Type Public
Traded as NASDAQ: ATVI
NASDAQ-100 Component
Industry Computer and video games
Founded 2008
Headquarters Santa Monica, California, USA[1] Activision Blizzard headquarters (Activision’s headquarters in
Area served Worldwide Santa Monica)
Key people Jean-Bernard Lévy
(Chairman) Inc.,
Activision Blizzard, Inc. formerly Activision, Inc.
Michael J. Griffith (NASDAQ: ATVI) is the American holding company for
(Vice Chairman) Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is
Robert Kotick majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and
(President and CEO)
was created through the merger of Activision and Viven-
Products Activision: di Games, announced on December 2, 2007,[3] in a deal
Crash Bandicoot series worth USD$18.8 billion.[4] The deal closed July 9, 2008.
Guitar Hero series The company believed that the merging of the two com-
Call of Duty series
panies would create "the world’s largest and most subtle
Tony Hawk franchise
Spider-Man series pure-play video game publisher".[5] It believes that it is
Spyro the Dragon series the only publisher that has "leading market positions
Blizzard Entertainment: across all categories" of the video game industry.[5]
Warcraft series
StarCraft series
Diablo series History
Revenue US$4.447 billion (2010)[2] In December 2007, Activision announced that the compa-
ny and its assets would merge with fellow games devel-
Operating income US$469 million (2010)[2]
oper and publisher, Vivendi Games. René Penisson, for-
Net income US$418 million (2010)[2] merly a member of the Management Board of Vivendi
and Chairman of Vivendi Games, would serve as Chair-
Total assets US$13.406 billion (2010)[2]
man of Activision Blizzard. Bobby Kotick, once head of
Total equity US$10.203 billion (2010)[2] Activision, was announced to become President and CEO
of Activision Blizzard.
Owner(s) Vivendi
In April 2008, the European Commission permitted
Employees 5000 (2011) the merger to take place. The commission essentially
Subsidiaries Activision needed to approve that there weren’t any antitrust issues
Blizzard in the merger deal.[6] On July 8, 2008, Activision an-
more nounced that stockholders had agreed to merge. The deal
closed on July 9, 2008, and the total transaction was an es-
Website ActivisionBlizzard.com
timated $18.9 billion.[7] Vivendi was the majority share-
holder, with a 52% stake in the company.[7] The rest of
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Activision Blizzard
the shares were held by institutional and private in- • High Moon Studios in San Diego, California, founded
vestors and continue to be traded on the NASDAQ stock as Sammy Entertainment in April 2001, acquired by
market, for the first 10 trading days post closing as Vivendi Games in January 2006.
ATVID, and subsequently as ATVI. Jean-Bernard Levy will • Infinity Ward in Encino, California, founded in 2002,
replace René Penisson as chairman of Activision Bliz- acquired October 2003.
zard.[8] • Neversoft in Los Angeles, California, founded in July
Activision and Blizzard Entertainment still exist as 1994, acquired October 1999.
separate entities.[9] The holding company does not pub- • Radical Entertainment in Vancouver, Canada,
lish games under its central name and instead uses its founded in 1991, acquired in 2005.
subsidiaries to publish games, similar to how Vivendi • Raven Software in Madison, Wisconsin, founded in
Games operated before the merger.[10] The merger 1990, acquired in 1997.
makes Activision parent company of Vivendi Games’ for- • Sledgehammer Games in Foster City, California,
mer divisions. founded November 17, 2009
While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate • Toys For Bob in Novato, California, founded in 1989,
leadership, other Vivendi Games divisions did not. For acquired May 3, 2005.
example, long-time label Sierra ceased operation. With • Treyarch in Santa Monica, California, founded in
the merger, there was a rumor that if a Sierra product did 1996, acquired 2001.
not meet Activision’s requirements, they "won’t likely be • Vicarious Visions in Albany, New York, founded in
retained."[11] Some of Sierra’s games such as Crash Bandi- 1990, acquired January 2005.
coot, Spyro the Dragon and Prototype have been retained
and are now published by Activision.[12] Also, due to the Defunct
closure of Sierra, the Sierra Community Forums servers • Bizarre Creations in Liverpool, England,[15] founded
have been shut down as of November 1, 2008.[13] as Raising Hell Productions in 1987 and changed
name in 1994, acquired on September 26, 2007,
Results of the merger closed January 20, 2011.
Shortly after the conclusion of the merger, Thomas Tippl, • Budcat Creations in Iowa City, IA, founded
CFO, alluded to future layoffs, stating that the company September 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada, acquired on
"will exterminate some of our overlap through redun- November 10, 2008, closed November 16, 2010.[16]
dancy – but we will treat people fairly and respectfully in • Luxoflux in Santa Monica, California, founded in
that process."[14] Also, games such as Brütal Legend, Ghost- January 1997, acquired October 2002, closed
busters: The Video Game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on February 11, 2011.
Dark Athena, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, 50 Cent: Blood • RedOctane in Mountain View, California, founded
on the Sand, Zombie Wranglers, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office November 2005, acquired in 2006, closed February
Bust and Wet were all dropped from the publisher to be 11, 2011.
picked up by other companies. • Shaba Games in San Francisco, California, founded in
September 1997, acquired in 2002, closed on October
Studios 8, 2009.
• Sierra Entertainment, founded as On-Line Systems in
1979, changed name to Sierra On-Line in 1982,
Current eventually changed name to Sierra Entertainment,
• Activision in Santa Monica, California, founded on closed in 2008.
October 1, 1979, merged with Vivendi Games on July • Vivendi Games, founded as Universal Interactive
9, 2008. Studios. Acquired by Vivendi in December 2000,
• Beenox in Quebec, Canada, founded in May 2000, changed name to Vivendi Universal Games in 2002,
acquired on May 25, 2005. changed name to Vivendi Games on May 2, 2006,
• Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, California, founded closed July 9, 2008 after Activision Blizzard merger.
in February 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, acquired in • 7 Studios in Los Angeles, California, founded in 1999,
1998 by Vivendi, merged with Activision on July 9, acquired in April 2009, closed in February 11, 2011.
2008. • Activision Value in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, founded
• DemonWare in both Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and in 2001, merged into Activision in 2010, changed
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, founded in name to Activision Minneapolis Publishing.
2003, acquired on May 2007.
• FreeStyleGames in Leamington, England, United Sold
Kingdom, founded in 2002, acquired September 12, • Knowledge Adventure in Los Angeles, California,
2008. founded in 1989, sold in 2004.
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Activision Blizzard
• Massive Entertainment in Malmö, Sweden, founded Blizzard venture". http://wii.ign.com/articles/
in 1997, acquired by Vivendi Universal Games in 887/887251p1.html.
2002, sold to Ubisoft on November 10, 2008. [8] "Vivendi CEO Activision Blizzard’s new chairman".
• Swordfish Studios in Birmingham, England, founded gamespot.com. 2009-05-05.
in September 2002, acquired by Vivendi Universal http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty5/
Games in June 2005, sold to Codemasters on news.html?sid=6209171&mode=news. Retrieved
November 14, 2008. 2009-08-27.
• Wanako Studios in New York, New York, founded in [9] Activision Blizzard FAQ
2005, acquired by Vivendi Games on February 20, [10] "Activision Blizzard Inc details.".
2007, sold to Artificial Mind and Movement on businessweek.com. p. 2.
November 20, 2008. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/
stocks/snapshot/
References snapshot_article.asp?ticker=ATVI:US&page=0.
Retrieved 2009-08-27.
[1] Activision - Corporate Info from Activision’s [11] Blizzard stay autonomous in Activision merger,
official website Sierra not so lucky - Strategy Informer
[2] ^ "Activision Blizzard Calender Year Financial [12] Brendan Sinclair. "Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters,
Result". MSN. http://money.msn.com/business- more dropped by Activision".
news/ http://www.gamespot.com/news/6195113.html.
article.aspx?feed=PR&Date=20110209&ID=12920760&topic=TOPIC_DIVIDENDS&isub=2. - Closure
[13] Sierra Community Forums
Retrieved 2011-02-10. Announcement
[3] "Vivendi and Activision to create Activision [14] INTERVIEW - Thomas Tippl | Gaming Industry |
Blizzard – World’s Largest, Most Profitable Pure- Interview by MCV
Play Video Game Publisher" (Press release). [15] Activision Acquires U.K. Game Developer Bizarre
Activision, Vivendi. 2007-12-02. Creations from Activision’s website
http://investor.activision.com/ [16] Brendan Sinclair. "Budcat put down".
releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=279372. Retrieved http://www.gamespot.com/news/6284151.html.
2007-12-02.
[4] "Video game giants in $18bn merger". BBC.
2007-12-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
External links
technology/7123582.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-03. • Activision Blizzard official site
[5] ^ "Fact sheet (PDF)". Activision Blizzard. Archived • Activision official site
from the original on 2008-05-28. • Blizzard Entertainment website
http://web.archive.org/web/20080528104716/
http://www.activisionblizzard.com/factSheet/
factSheet.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
[6] Alexander Sliwinski. "EU greenlights Activision-
Vivendi merger". http://www.joystiq.com/2008/
04/16/eu-greenlights-activision-vivendi-merger.
[7] ^ Jimmy Thang. "Activision/Vivendi Games Merger
Approved: Stockholders support Activision
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Activision_Blizzard&oldid=461626886"
Categories:
• Companies listed on NASDAQ
• Companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index
• Activision
• Activision Blizzard
• Blizzard Entertainment
• Companies established in 2008
• Holding companies
• Video game companies of the United States
• Vivendi subsidiaries
• Companies based in Santa Monica, California
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Activision Blizzard
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