Call them Actizard: Activision-Vivendi merger gets official

Well, it looks as if the merger between Activision and Vivendi has finally reached its end. We’ve just received a press release that lets us fully make use of our Activision-Blizzard tag. Learn more about the merger after the jump!

It looks as if the merger between Activision and Vivendi is about as close to official as we’re ever going to get. A new press release has announced that Activision has received approval from its stockholders for its merger with Vivendi.

According to the press release we received, “All of the proposals required to effect the transaction received more than 92 percent of the shares voted.” Better still, the deal’s going to be made final tomorrow, July 9.

What does this mean if you’ve invested in either company? Well, money and opportunity, of course! The press release says it best:

As a result of the merger, Vivendi Games… will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision. Vivendi will receive approximately 295.3 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase approximately 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of US$ 27.50 per share for a total of approximately US$ 1.7 billion in cash, resulting in a total Vivendi ownership stake in Activision Blizzard of approximately 52% on a fully diluted basis and approximately 54% of shares outstanding. As of the closing of the transaction, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

Activision-Blizzard certainly has a nice ring to it, though we prefer the much shorter, Power Ranger Zord-sounding Actizard. As for what the “new” company has in store for us, they have Diablo 3, the Guitar Hero franchise, and, of course, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Definitely some good tidings, as far as mergers are concerned.