Several days ago, Bloomberg reported that Vivendi was seeking to sell its $8.1 billion stake in Activision Blizzard almost immediately after its chief executive resigned last week.
This drastic move is meant to boost the value of Vivendi's stock from an almost nine-year low and safe the company from a warning from Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings to reduce its liabilities.
Some have blamed mismanagement to be the cause while others have called the current video game market as a high-risk, low-margin industry and one that is in transition with the soon emergence of next-gen consoles and the rise of social media games.
It may just be in Vivendi's best interest to cut their losses short and sell their shares as high as they can. Blizzard's subscriptions in World of Warcraft have been dropping, Diablo III hasn't been as successful as it could have been, and Activision's Call of Duty franchise may be running out of ideas. It would seem that, in Vivendi's view, Activision Blizzard is already passed their prime and sell at a time they believe the developer's value has peaked.
That being said, who should buy Activision Blizzard? What do you think they should do to turn things around?
