JDD - Gaspard Proust : McKinsey, milice Wagner du cost-killing

JDD - Gaspard Proust : McKinsey, milice Wagner du cost-killing

Mais qu’est-ce qui motive tant un homme politique à vouloir devenir locataire del’Élysée ?
La réponse est simple : un service de conciergerie hors norme. Un problème à n’importe quelle heure de la journée ? Pas de panique, à l’autre bout du fil, un conseiller McKinsey est là pour vous guider. Mais attention, on ne parle pas d’une conciergerie lambda, non, ici, c’est le domaine de l’über-luxe. Attendre un conseiller au téléphone est susceptible
de vous coûter 300 balles la seconde du Printemps de Vivaldi. Un peu comme chez Mozart où le silence après du
Mozart, c’est encore du Mozart ; chez McKinsey, le silence avant le bullshit, c’est déjà du bullshit.

Des mauvaises langues vont nous expliquer qu’on pourrait faire en interne ce qu’on externalise. C’est évidemment débile. Ce qu’on paie dans un cabinet de conseil, ce n’est pas tant l’expertise (les types qui bossent chez McKinsey ont
fait les mêmes écoles que ceux qui les recrutent — je mets bien sûr Christophe Castaner et Marlène Schiappa à part),
mais comme les mesures à prendre sont rarement faciles à assumer, le cabinet sert à un transfert de responsabilité ; ce que j’appellerai pudiquement la délocalisation de la couille.

Vouloir faire faire le boulot de McKinsey par des fonctionnaires consisterait à leur dire : « Hé, les gars, pondez-nous un truc qui démontrera que vous êtes trop nombreux et trop chers ! »

En coaching, c’est un peu comme tenter de remobiliser le PSG à la mi-temps en envoyant Domenech dans les vestiaires. Il faut comprendre : quand ta propre armée est démobilisée, tu appelles les mercenaires. C’est là qu’intervient McKinsey, notre milice Wagner du cost-killing. Mais au lieu de les juger, mettons nous un instant à la place de ces gens :
enchaîner classes prépa, concours, grandes écoles, tout ça pour finir en brainstorming sur un montant d’APL… Imagine-t-on Nadal donner des cours de tennis dans un Club Med ?

Il faut imaginer le chemin de Damas intérieur de ces têtes bien faites à qui le chef d’équipe a dû dire pour éviter les
suicides : « Relax les gars, le mot APL c’est juste un nom de code pour désigner les taux de la Fed. En réalité, vous êtes en train de bosser pour Jerome Powell ! »

De manière plus personnelle, je me souviens encore avec émotion de la présentation de McKinsey à l’époque où je n’étais encore qu’un anonyme petit branleur à HEC Lausanne. C’étaient les seuls à venir en disant : « Bonjour,
ne vous emballez pas, on vient juste vous faire l’honneur de vous distribuer notre plaquette, on commencera à étudier votre cas une fois que vous aurez complété votre cursus par un MBA à Harvard, un postgrade en physique quantique à Stanford, un premier prix de violon, une sélection pour les JO et si en plus vous avez fondé une ONG au Vietnam durant votre tour du monde en trottinette solaire, c’est un plus.

Un cost-killer, c’est bien, mais un cost-killer qui sait sourire à un enfant cul-de-jatte ayant joué à la marelle dans un champ de mines, c’est mieux. » À les écouter, je l’avoue, je rêvais moi aussi d’en être. D’être ce puceau endimanché qui présenterait des PowerPoint facturés au prix d’esquisses de Picasso à un parterre de PDG qui boiraient mes paroles comme si je venais de leur offrir un week-end « putes et casino » à Monaco.

Je me souviens des collègues qui ont fini dans ces boîtes. En général, c’étaient les indécis. « Tu vas faire quoi après ?
Finance ou marketing ?… Je sais pas… Ah, ok, donc du conseil ! » C’est normal.

Dans la vie, ceux qui conseillent sont rarement ceux qui font. Ce sont d’abord et avant tout des entrepreneurs du risque des autres. Il suffit de comparer le chiffre d’affaires de la boîte d’Alain Minc avec celui de LVMH. Respectueusement. g


FT : UK accounting regulator investigates Deloitte over Go-Ahead audits

UK accounting regulator investigates Deloitte over Go-Ahead audits
Bus and rail operator's shares were temporarily suspended in January after it missed deadline for filing results

Deloitte is under investigation by the UK accounting regulator over its audits of bus and rail operator Go-Ahead Group.

The Financial Reporting Council said on Tuesday that it was probing the Big Four auditor’s checks on Go-Ahead’s accounts for the six financial years ended between June 2016 and July 2021.

The regulator did not disclose the focus of its investigation, which it said was launched on March 22. The investigation would not relate to any individuals other than the statutory auditors who signed off the accounts in the relevant years, it said.

Go-Ahead’s shares were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange in January this year because it was unable to publish its financial results within the time allowed under market rules. The results were eventually published on February 24.

Deloitte said it would co-operate fully with the FRC’s investigation and was “committed to the highest standards of audit quality”.

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 12th of April 2022 V2(+)

>>> Up
* Alior Raised to Buy at Wood & Company; PT 57.70 zloty (+)
* ASMI Raised to Overweight at Barclays; PT 425 euros
* Bank of Ireland Raised to Buy at Berenberg; PT 7.50 euros
* Korian PT Raised to 40 euros from 35 euros at Bryan Garnier (+)
* Legrand Raised to Buy at SocGen; PT 95 euros
* Leonardo Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank; PT 12 euros
* Mortgage Advice Bureau Raised to Buy at Peel Hunt
* Neste Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 53 euros
* Osai Automation System Raised to Buy at Banca Akros (+)
* Pekao Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 144 zloty
* Salzgitter Raised to Neutral at Oddo BHF (+)
* Unibail Raised to Neutral at Citi (+)

>>> Down
* BioMerieux Cut to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 108 euros (+)
* Elior Group Cut to Add at AlphaValue/Baader
* Greenvolt Cut to Neutral at JB Capital Markets; PT 7.20 euros (+)
* Investec Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT 535 pence (+)
* LSE Cut to Neutral at Exane; PT 8,600 pence
* OTP Bank Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 13,600 forint
* Piraeus Financial Holdings Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley
* PKO Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 49 zloty
* Rapala VMC Cut to Accumulate at Inderes; PT 8.20 euros
* Rolls-Royce Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; PT 75 pence
* SSAB Cut to Underperform at Oddo BHF (+)
* Safestore Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 1,515 pence
* Salmar Cut to Hold at DNB Markets; PT 743 kroner
* Seaway 7 Cut to Neutral at SpareBank; PT 10 kroner
* STMicroelectronics Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays; PT 38 euros
* Vantage Towers Cut to Neutral at New Street Research

>>> Initiation
* BiVictriX Therapeutics Rated New Buy at Panmure Gordon (+)
* De' Longhi Rated New Buy at Bestinver; PT 31 euros (+)
* Eurazeo SE Rated New Neutral at Goldman; PT 92 euros
* Intermediate Capital Rated New Buy at Goldman; PT 2,480 pence
* Partners Group Rated New Buy at Goldman; PT 1,630 Swiss francs
* Tele2 Resumed Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 145 kronor
* Valmet Resumed Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

>>> Call
* Adidas PT, Estimates Cut at Morgan Stanley on China Challenges (+)
* Ferrari Raised at BNP Paribas Ahead of New BEV Strategy, Outlook
* Givaudan 1Q May Provide ‘Modest’ Support For Shares: Jefferies
* Leonardo Upgraded, BAE PT Raised on Defense Spend: Deutsche Bank (+)
* LSE Cut at Exane BNP Paribas on Top-Line Growth Uncertainty (+)
* Novo Nordisk Raised on Wegovy Relaunch Momentum: Morgan Stanley
* Plus500 Has Another Excellent Quarter, Momentum Strong: Liberum (+)
* Rolls-Royce Cut at JPMorgan on Lower Margins, New Unit Risks (+)
* Sika Delivers Solid Revenue Beat at 1Q, Morgan Stanley Says
* Valmet Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley With Risk Skew Balanced
* Wienerberger 1Q is Strong Beat, Shares Are Cheap: Morgan Stanley (+)

Gatestone Institute : China Taking Over Africa: 'China's Second Continent'

China Taking Over Africa: 'China's Second Continent'

  • "America cannot ignore Africa. Africa's challenges, opportunities, and security interests are inseparable from our own.... Our competitors clearly see Africa's rich potential. Russia and China both seek to convert soft and hard power investments into political influence, strategic access, and military advantage. China's economic and diplomatic engagements allow it to buttress autocracies and change international norms in a patient effort to claim their second continent." — General Stephen Townsend, Commander of United States Africa Command, Senate Armed Services Committee, March 15, 2022.
  • About 40 out of Africa's 54 countries participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the global infrastructure and economic development project that the Chinese Communist Party launched in 2013. BRI aims to build an economic and infrastructure network connecting China with Europe, Africa and beyond, and has already strengthened China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China.
  • "China is dependent on Africa for imports of fossil fuels and commodities... Beijing has increased its control of African commodities through strategic direct investment in oil fields, mines, and production facilities, as well as through resource-backed loans that call for in-kind payments of commodities. This control threatens the ability of U.S. companies to access key supplies." — US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2020 annual report to Congress.
  • In June 2021, in an extremely belated attempt to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Biden administration together with the G7 launched a new global infrastructure initiative, the Build Back Better World (B3W).... The initiative, however, comes across as far too little, too late. Between 2007 and 2020, China invested $23 billion in infrastructure projects in Africa, according to the Center for Global Development, a US think tank. That is reportedly "$8 billion more than... the other top eight lenders combined..."
  • It will be very near impossible for the US or others to catch up on that, especially with the planned B3W initiative, because that initiative is not focused on much-needed tangible investments. Instead, its four focus areas are climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.
  • "More troubling is B3W's apparent excision of hard physical infrastructure from its remit... In Africa, which lags all other regions of the world in the availability of paved roads and electricity [and rail], that deficit that deficit is set to grow without a massive influx of hard infrastructure investment..." — Gyude Moore, senior policy fellow, Center for Global Development, African Business, February 13, 2022.
  • In the absence of a serious coordinated international effort, China will go on to fill that infrastructure gap, as it continues to consolidate its influence in Africa while the US lags behind.


China continues to deepen its engagement in Africa on all levels. Recently it engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity with African countries. In March alone, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held bilateral talks with his African counterparts in Algeria, Egypt, The Gambia, Niger, Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia. The talks came only two months after Wang Yi visited Eritrea, Kenya and Comoros. Also in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, during which the two spoke about deepening cooperation between the two countries. Ramaphosa affirmed that he supports China's policies on Taiwan, Tibet, and other "major issues".
Africa is important to China for several reasons. "Beijing has long viewed African countries as occupying a central position in its efforts to increase China's global influence and revise the international order," the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in its 2020 Report to Congress.
"Over the last two decades, and especially under General Secretary Xi's leadership since 2012, Beijing has launched new initiatives to transform Africa into a testing ground for the export of its governance system of state-led economic growth under one-party, authoritarian rule.
"Beijing uses its influence in Africa to gain preferential access to Africa's natural resources, open up markets for Chinese exports, and enlist African support for Chinese diplomatic priorities on and beyond the continent."
While China has continuously been deepening its involvement in Africa, the US has not come anywhere near China's engagement and high-level attention. Since 2011, trade between the US and Africa has been in decline. This inaction means that in the emerging US-China rivalry in Africa, China is far ahead.
China is now Africa's largest trade partner. In 2000, trade between China and Africa had been at a mere $11 billion. From 2020 to 2021, trade between Africa and China reportedly increased by 35% -- from $187 billion to $254 billion.
About 40 out of Africa's 54 countries participate in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the global infrastructure and economic development project that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched in 2013. BRI aims to build an economic and infrastructure network connecting China with Europe, Africa and beyond, and has already strengthened China's global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly dependent on China.
While China has been increasing its annual Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Africa -- its FDI flows grew from just $75 million in 2003 to $4.2 billion in 2020 -- annual American FDI flows to Africa have been heading the other way. "Chinese FDI flows to Africa have exceeded those from the U.S. since 2013, as U.S. FDI flows have generally been declining since 2010," according to the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
"America cannot ignore Africa. Africa's challenges, opportunities, and security interests are inseparable from our own," General Stephen Townsend, Commander of United States Africa Command recently said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 15.
"Our competitors clearly see Africa's rich potential. Russia and China both seek to convert soft and hard power investments into political influence, strategic access, and military advantage. China's economic and diplomatic engagements allow it to buttress autocracies and change international norms in a patient effort to claim their second continent."
Already in May 2021, Townsend had warned that China was overtaking America in Africa:
"The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa. Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa," he said.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in its 2020 Report to Congress:
"China is dependent on Africa for imports of fossil fuels and commodities constituting critical inputs in emerging technology products. Beijing has increased its control of African commodities through strategic direct investment in oil fields, mines, and production facilities, as well as through resource-backed loans that call for in-kind payments of commodities. This control threatens the ability of U.S. companies to access key supplies."
In June 2021, in an extremely belated attempt to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Biden administration together with the G7 launched a new global infrastructure initiative, the Build Back Better World. According to a Biden administration fact-sheet about the initiative:
"President Biden and G7 partners agreed to launch the bold new global infrastructure initiative Build Back Better World (B3W), a values-driven, high-standard, and transparent infrastructure partnership led by major democracies to help narrow the $40+ trillion infrastructure need in the developing world...
"B3W will be global in scope, from Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa to the Indo-Pacific. Different G7 partners will have different geographic orientations, but the sum of the initiative will cover low- and middle-income countries across the world."
The initiative, however, comes across as far too little, too late. Between 2007 and 2020, China invested $23 billion in infrastructure projects in Africa, according to the Center for Global Development, a US think tank. That is reportedly "$8 billion more than what the other top eight lenders combined, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, and the US and European development banks, contributed." It will be very near impossible for the US or others to catch up on that, especially with the planned B3W initiative, because that initiative is not focused on much-needed tangible investments. Instead, its four focus areas are climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.
According to Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development:
"More troubling is B3W's apparent excision of hard physical infrastructure from its remit... In Africa, which lags all other regions of the world in the availability of paved roads and electricity, that deficit is set to grow without a massive influx of hard infrastructure investment... At current rates, the minimum deficit of the road network will be 60,000km by 2040 and an additional 30,000km gap for the rail network."
In the absence of a serious coordinated international effort, China will go on to fill that infrastructure gap, as it continues to consolidate its influence in Africa while the US lags behind.

FT : Honda defies electric vehicle mania to bet on hybrid cars

Honda defies electric vehicle mania to bet on hybrid cars
Japanese carmaker earmarks $40bn for EVs but keeps options open

Honda said it would pour $40bn into electric vehicles over the next decade, but stopped short of throwing its full weight behind battery-powered vehicles as it bet that its hybrid cars would dominate in the near future.

While the company became Japan’s first automaker to declare the phaseout from gasoline cars last April, Honda has only one EV model in the market, trailing Volkswagen and other global players.

It said on Tuesday it would rely on its hybrid models with a petrol-electric system until the infrastructure was ready to support more EVs on the roads, in a move that follows the hedging logic of other carmakers Toyota and BMW.

“We need to take into account multiple factors, such as the living environment and the penetration rate of renewable energy, rather than simply switching to electric vehicles,” said Toshihiro Mibe, Honda’s chief executive who assumed the role last April.

Mibe stressed that Honda’s hybrid technology, which combines a smaller petrol or diesel engine with a battery, would lead the company over the next decade. “We are ending conventional engines but we will still focus on hybrids, and it will be our strength in 2030 or even in 2035,” he said.

The carmaker outlined plans to make the most of its tie-ups with General Motors and Sony to break into the affordable EV market. It said it would launch 30 EV models by 2030 and produce more than 2mn a year. Honda’s shares did not react to the announcement.

Honda announced last week it would jointly develop with GM millions of affordable EVs for North America and China with production scheduled in 2027.

Battery supply is a growing issue for Honda as carmakers around the world race to secure stocks to increase production. “How they source EV batteries is much more important than how much they invest in EVs,” said Sanshiro Fukao, a senior fellow at the Itochu Research Institute.

As the company plays catch-up with global rivals, “Honda under Mibe is increasingly moving away from in-house production, and luring battery suppliers should be the largest priority for any carmaker today”, he added.

The Japanese carmaker said that in North America it would use GM’s Ultium battery and it was considering setting up a joint venture with another undisclosed player to produce batteries to use in EVs.

In China, Honda will source batteries from CATL, the world’s largest global battery group, while in Japan it will buy batteries from Envision AESC, the main battery supplier for the Renault-Nissan alliance, for compact electric vans in commercial use.

Seiji Sugiura, a senior analyst at advisory company Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, said while the announcement showed Honda’s commitment to EVs, “the stock market still has scepticism”.

FT : UK launches world-first ‘subscription’ model for antibiotic supply

UK launches world-first ‘subscription’ model for antibiotic supply
Fixed fee aims to incentivise pharma groups to develop new drugs and curb overprescription

The UK is set to become the first country in the world to pay drug companies a fixed fee for supplying antibiotics in an effort to tackle the growing global crisis over resistance to the drugs.

The aim is to give companies a better incentive to develop new antibiotics, which would be held back to treat patients who really need them, while restraining overprescribing that leads microbes to develop drug resistance.

Health experts estimate that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) kills more than one million people a year worldwide, putting pressure on the medical profession to cut back use of antibiotics in all but the most serious cases.

Under the deal being struck by the NHS with Pfizer of the US and Shionogi of Japan, the drug companies will be paid a fixed fee of £10mn a year. The current reimbursement system based on sales volume often fails to provide sufficient revenue to justify research and development spending.

The contract value was set at a level that would give international companies an incentive to invest in antibiotic research and development, if other countries pay proportionate sums scaled to their gross domestic product.

Thomas Cueni, director-general of IFPMA, the international pharmaceutical manufacturers trade body, agreed: “We call on the other leading governments to put all efforts into progressing their own incentive models so that sufficient global scale is achieved that will attract the necessary investment in R&D.”

Two new antibiotics made by Pfizer and Shionogi have already passed a key value-for-money evaluation by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). NHS England aims to conclude innovative “subscription-style contracts” with the manufacturers this summer.

Nick Crabb, Nice programme director, said: “The ultimate goal is to ensure the NHS has access to effective new antimicrobials to call on when needed and patients aren’t left without treatment options in the face of growing antimicrobial resistance.”

Pfizer and Shionogi submitted their drugs for evaluation when the government announced a pilot scheme in 2020, in which two antibiotics would be selected for subscription contracts capped at £10mn a year for 10 years.

Several European nations and the US are considering similar schemes that separate payment from prescription volume, either through an upfront market entry payment or annual subscriptions like the NHS England model.

“This is an important step in our world-leading approach to incentivise innovation in antimicrobial drugs and the battle against drug-resistant infections,” said Blake Dark, NHS commercial medicines director.

Dame Sally Davies, UK special envoy on antimicrobial resistance and former chief medical officer for England, said: “I am delighted that Nice has demonstrated the value of innovative antibodies in a subscription-style payment model. I call on the NHS to continue this pilot over the next few years. Ideally, we need to add two innovative and needed antibiotics each year.”

Pfizer’s Zavicefta and Shionogi’s Fetcroja are used to treat severe infections of the abdomen, lungs and urinary tract by bacteria that are resistant to other antibiotics. Both are administered by intravenous infusion.

Nice worked with the Policy Research Unit in Economic Methods of Evaluation in Health and Care Interventions, based at York and Sheffield universities, to assess the two drugs.

The universities used a complex procedure that took account of their value in allowing other medical procedures to go ahead, reducing the spread of infection to other people and ensuring that the NHS had a range of antibiotics available to treat resistant bacteria.

Taking all these factors into account, Nice estimated that Fetcroja would be worth 16,200 quality-adjusted life years (Qalys) to NHS patients over 20 years, while it put Zavicefta’s value at 8,880 Qalys. Using Nice’s yardstick that a treatment is justified if it costs £20,000 per Qaly, both would justify a subscription of £10mn a year.

FT : Belgian shipping heir hits out at plan to create largest oil tanker group

Belgian shipping heir hits out at plan to create largest oil tanker group
Alexander Saverys says that Euronav shareholders will receive ‘nothing’ from planned tie-up with Frontline

Alexander Saverys, an heir to one of Belgium’s oldest shipping dynasties, has hit out at Norwegian tycoon John Fredriksen’s ambition to create the world’s largest oil tanker group, vowing to build opposition to the plan.

Fredriksen last week announced a $4.2bn deal to merge his Frontline group with Belgium’s Euronav, a rival tanker group founded in 1995 by the Saverys family, who are also the company’s largest shareholder.

The deal has won the backing of the boards of Frontline and Euronav. Both suffered losses last year and say that the greater scale will give them leverage to raise prices.

However, Alexander Saverys said the deal offered “nothing” for Euronav shareholders, who will receive 1.45 Frontline shares for each Euronav share they own. The Saverys family own just over 13 per cent of the Antwerp-based group.

“What’s in it for Euronav? Nothing,” said Saverys. “We see this company [Euronav] is not heading in the right direction. We hate to see things we’ve built go in the wrong direction.”

Saverys insisted that he had “more than one string in his bow” to thwart the deal, including building opposition from fellow investors, the family increasing its own stake and laying out an alternative future for Euronav that would cut the group’s reliance on transporting oil.

“Our stake is already sizeable. It will not be impossible for them [Frontline and Euronav] to push it through but it will be difficult,” he said.

Saverys intends to propose that Euronav combine with a division of CMB, a shipping conglomerate with a fleet of almost 150 vessels that is owned by the family. CMB Tech, a division of the conglomerate, is designing vessels powered by hydrogen and ammonia, as well as building distribution infrastructure for the low carbon fuels.

Euronav said that it and Frontline have not yet finalised the level of shareholder support the transaction will require.

Hugo De Stoop, Euronav’s chief executive, said the proposals from Saverys were “incompatible” with Euronav’s business model and that demand to transport oil would remain high for decades to come.

Saverys also criticised analysts who have championed the deal in recent days because it will reduce borrowing costs for Frontline and Euronav.

“If the longevity of your company is based on a 30-basis point reduction of your debt, then where’s your future?,” he said. “I don’t believe in this pure play model . . . In this day and age if we want to decarbonise, we need to diversify.”

WSJ : ‘Fortnite’ Maker Epic Games Valued at Nearly $32 Billion in Funding Round

‘Fortnite’ Maker Epic Games Valued at Nearly $32 Billion in Funding Round
Epic raises $2 billion in biggest fundraising for a videogame company in two decades

“Fortnite” creator Epic Games Inc. raised $2 billion, the most for any gaming company in two decades, from investors including Sony Group Corp. SONY -5.54%

The funding means that Epic is now valued at $31.5 billion, after Sony and Kirkbi A/S, the holding company of the Kirk Kristiansen family, put in $1 billion apiece, according to a statement.

The company, which also counts Walt Disney Co. and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY 0.51% among its investors, was valued at $28.7 billion as of last April. Its chief executive, Tim Sweeney, remains the company’s controlling shareholder.

The company said the funding will advance the company’s aims to build the metaverse—a term used to describe a virtual environment in which people can use digital avatars to work, play and shop—and its continued growth.

“As we reimagine the future of entertainment and play, we need partners who share our vision. We have found this in our partnership with Sony and Kirkbi,” Mr. Sweeney said.

The $2 billion investment in Epic is the largest in the gaming space dating back to 2002, according to research firm PitchBook Data Inc. The three previous largest investments were also in Epic, with a $1.78 billion investment topping the list before Monday.

The latest funding round comes days after Epic and the Lego Group, which is 75% owned by Kirkbi, said they are partnering to build a version of the metaverse that is child- and family-friendly.

Epic’s latest valuation will be closely watched by investors after a string of recent deals in the videogame space this year. In January, Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion. Later that month, Sony’s videogame unit said it was buying videogame developer Bungie Inc. in a deal valued at $3.6 billion.

The investment from Sony and Kirkbi in Epic is meaningful by itself and by industry standards “because there are very few billion-size dollar deals done in [the] game industry,” said Martin Yang, executive director at investment bank Oppenheimer & Co. The average size of gaming-industry investments is typically in the tens of millions, with something in the hundreds of millions considered a rare, large-size investment, added Mr. Yang.

Josh Chapman, a managing partner at Konvoy Ventures, a venture-capital firm that invests exclusively in the videogame industry, said that the size of Sony and Kirkbi’s investment is rare but not out of the question for Epic because it has been raising capital for a long time.

“This is certainly a very sizable transaction that makes a lot of sense for Epic by bringing in Lego [intellectual property] plus all of Sony’s assets,” said Mr. Chapman.

The videogame marketplace has reached new heights after more people turned to it during the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting companies to capitalize on the recent momentum.

Sony said in late March that its videogame unit is bolstering its subscription option, which has been gaining prominence throughout the industry as a way to lock in players to specific hardware, franchises and apps. Microsoft has offered a single subscription service since 2017. The two companies consider cloud gaming, also called game streaming, to be the future of game distribution.

As Mr. Sweeney’s company has grown, he has also taken on two of the world’s biggest technology companies. Epic has been in legal disputes with Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google after the two companies in August 2020 pulled “Fortnite” from their app stores. The move came after Epic rolled out a new way of making in-game purchases that circumvented the cut the tech giants make from digital transactions within apps.

Apple last month argued a judge’s ruling should be overturned in its appeals fight with Epic.

“Fortnite” quickly became a global phenomenon after its debut in 2017. While it is best known for its free “Battle Royale” mode, where 100 players duke it out until only one combatant or squad remains, it is also home to concerts, movies and designated areas just for socializing. Epic said “Fortnite” had more than 350 million registered users in 2020.

Epic said in March that it was committing proceeds from “Fortnite” to humanitarian relief for people affected by the war in Ukraine. It said it raised a total of $144 million.

Epic was founded in 1991. In addition to the shooter game “Fortnite,” it makes the Unreal Engine, a suite of software tools for developing videogames and producing special effects for television shows, movies and other types of digital content. It also owns the studios behind hit games such as “Rocket League’’ and “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.”