Key things
- AJ Investments pushes for Ubisoft sale, claims 10 percent backing.
- Ubisoft's stock has tumbled over the past year after several high-profile failures.
- Whether Ubisoft can fight back remains to be seen.
AJ Investments, a hedge fund holding less than 1 percent of Ubisoft's stock, is pushing to sell Ubisoft to a third party or private equity. In a letter shared with Reuters, AJ Investments says it has the backing of 10 percent of Ubisoft's shareholders.
“We urge Ubisoft management to allow the sale of the company to third parties or private equity firms at a fair price,” the letter reads. This comes just weeks after AJ Investments published an open letter containing several proposals for the company's board: cut costs, “optimize” staff levels, take the company private and replace current CEO Yves Guillemot.
AJ Investments did not disclose which other Ubisoft investors are backing it. Ubisoft's largest shareholder is the Guillemot family, which owns 15 percent and runs the company. It is followed by the Chinese megacorporation Tencent, which owns less than 10 percent.
Ubisoft is in trouble
Ubisoft's share price is in freefall, having lost 66 percent of its value over the past year with no signs of recovery. 20 percent of that drop comes solely from Ubisoft's announcement that Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed until February 14, 2025.
The delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows is due in part to the poor commercial performance of Star Wars Outlaws, which had a middling response from gamers and critics alike. According to Ubisoft, “While Assassin's Creed Shadows is feature complete, the insights from the release of Star Wars Outlaws have led us to allow more time to polish the title.” Ubisoft also went on to state that it is not pursuing any particular agenda in Assassin's Creed Shadows after (nonsense) controversy regarding the game's dual protagonists.
Poor sales of Star Wars Outlaws and the delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows are just two of the latest observations in what has been a terrible couple of years for Ubisoft. Skull & Bones and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown are two recent failures from Ubisoft, as neither sold well, even though the latter was highly rated by those who played it.
Only time will tell if Ubisoft can bounce back from recent setbacks and if the current owners can survive this leadership tussle.
Ubisoft
Headquartered in Saint-Mandé, France, Ubisoft is a developer and publisher that employs over 20,000 people worldwide. It is best known for the Assassin's Creed, Rayman, Far Cry and Just Dance series, as well as games using the Tom Clancy name. It also makes adaptations of popular board games such as Monopoly and Uno.
