The Guillemot family and Tencent might buy Ubisoft and remove it from the market to stabilize the game company

Big changes might be in store for Ubisoft, as the Guillemot family and Tencent are reportedly planning to buy Ubisoft and take it off the public market.

Big changes might be in store for Ubisoft, as the Guillemot family and Tencent are reportedly planning to buy Ubisoft and take it off the public market. Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that representatives from both companies – Tencent and Guillemot Brothers Ltd, run by the same Guillemot family who helped found Ubisoft – have spoken with financial advisors about possible buyout plans, though these discussions are still in eary stages and may not result in a transaction.

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Tencent currently owns 9.2 percent of Ubisoft, while Guillemot Brothers Ltd owns 20 percent. In 2022, Tencent bought a 49.9 percent stake in Guillemot Brothers Ltd for $297 million, and as part of the deal at the time, Ubisoft forbade Tencent from owning more than 10 percent of Ubisoft. The GBL group may only own up to 29.9 percent of Ubisoft, collectively. Naturally, all of this will have to change if GBL and Tencent move to purchase Ubisoft entirely.

Ubisoft’s share price recently dropped after the company adjusted its financial forecast downward, following lower-than-expected sales from Star Wars Outlaws. The Bloomberg report saw them jump by 10 percent, which prompted Ubisoft to call for a trading halt.

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After Ubisoft’s stock price fell, AJ Investments and Partners, one of Ubisoft’s minority stakeholders, wrote an open letter to company management expressing “deep dissatisfaction with the current performance and strategic direction of the company.” It also attributed Ubisoft’s mismanagement to interference from GBL and Tencent (thanks, GIBiz).

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"Ubisoft at current state is mismanaged and shareholders are hostages of Guillemot family members and Tencent who take advantage of them," AJ Investments and Partners said in the letter. "Management is focused on pleasing investors with beating quarterly results and not focusing on long-term strategy to provide exceptional experience for the gamers."

Star Wars Outlaws’ sales were hardly the only disappointment for Ubisoft in 2024. Skull and Bones launched after years of delays to poor critical reception, and while Ubisoft praised it at the time for setting new player engagement records – thanks in part to a free trial – it seems those numbers have dropped off considerably. After Skull and Bones launched on Steam in late August 2024, its player count peaked at 2,600 and quickly fell to under 500.