Electronic Arts is selling its 14.8 percent stake in Ubisoft, according to Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires.
An Ubisoft representative informed Reuters that EA was selling an unspecified amount of its stake, but did not confirm whether or not the entire stake was being sold off.
"Electronic Arts was seen as a natural bidder for Ubisoft, though a lot of people had given up with this idea a long time ago," said a Paris-based trader to Reuters.
"On the other hand, it may open the door to new investors who were not willing to enter Ubisoft and try to shake up things as Electronic Arts already owned 15 percent but was not doing anything with its stake," he added.
A source close to Ubisoft however has told Reuters that EA has given investment bank UBS a mandate to sell the entire stake. Dow Jones Newswires has also reported that the entire stake has been sold, but could not determine how much it was sold for or who it was sold to.
"Electronic Arts informed us that it was selling its share in Ubisoft," an Ubisoft spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires.
Ubisoft is remaining optimistic about EA backing out of their control over the company, which first occurred in 2004 and created buzz that the big publisher was on the verge of taking Ubisoft over.
"This is good news for Ubisoft which regains its independence, although Electronic Arts has always supported our strategy," said the spokesman.
[Reuters]
