A new report has come out on Friday suggesting Ubisoft could be seeking big backers for its IPs like Tencent amid floundering profits.
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is reportedly looking to bring in new partners to join a new venture. The venture will include some of the Intellectual Property (IP) the company is known for (Assassin’s Creed), and Bloomberg reports the publisher is considering selling a minority stake in the venture and has contacted potential bidders, including a current shareholder with Tencent Holdings Ltd., and other bidders in France to field interest sources say. The Guillemot family currently owns 14% of Ubisoft’s shares, while Tencent owns 9.99% of shares.
In late 2024, Bloomberg noted both Guillemot Brothers Ltd and Tencent were exploring options to stabilize Ubisoft’s standing as a company. Previous financial reports have sounded the alarm, as the publisher who brought gamers Prince of Persia lost more than half of its market value in 2024. While the conversations to restore the publisher to its former stability continue, the main focus is to allegedly keep the Guillemot Family in control even if a buyout were to occur, Reuters says in December 2024. At that time, Tencent was unsure whether they wanted to further increase their stake in the French publisher.
A spokesman for Ubisoft said, “We remain committed to making decisions in the best interests of all of our stakeholders,” continuing with “In this context, as we have already indicated, the Company is also reviewing all its strategic options” back in December. Year to date, Ubisoft stock has fallen 31.63% (as of this post according to Google Finance), and it appears the publisher could be exploring these options out of necessity, considering Ubisoft has rejected the notion of a buyout before.
Whether Tencent or another partner joins this new venture is still up in the air as nothing has been made official as of this posting.
