Vivendi & Activision Merging to Form Activision Blizzard
KeyWord: Vivendi, Activision, Blizzard Date: 12-04-2007
Summary: Blizzard announced today that parent company Vivendi has entered into an agreement with Activision which will merge their entertainment business with Activision creating a new company and be called Activision Blizzard. Once established, Activision Blizzard will be the world's largest pure-play online and console game publisher.

Conditions to Closing
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of Vivendi, Vivendi Games and Activision. The transaction is subject to the approval of Activision's stockholders and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including expiration of applicable waiting periods and receipt of applicable approvals under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and European Union merger control regulations. Pending regulatory and stockholder approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed in the first half of calendar year 2008.

Financial and Legal Advisors
Activision's financial advisor on the transaction is Allen & Company LLC and its legal counsel is Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Vivendi's financial advisor is Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is acting as legal counsel to Vivendi.

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Conference Call and Webcast Information
The management of both companies will host a joint conference call and live webcast on Monday, December 3, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. Paris time, 1:30 p.m. London time to discuss this announcement. The companies welcome all members of the investment community to listen to the call live by dialing into (888) 765-5554 in the U.S. or (913) 312-1235 outside the U.S. The live webcast of the call can be accessed at www.vivendi.com and www.activision.com.

For those unable to listen to the live conference call, an audio replay of the call will be available through December 17, 2007, approximately two hours after the call's conclusion and can be accessed by calling (888) 203-1112 in the U.S. or (719) 457-0820 outside the U.S. and entering the pass-code: 5648597. In addition, a webcast replay also will be archived on the Investor Relations section of each company's website.

For more information please visit official website of Blizzard

 


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