(LeMonde) Le président de Gameloft : « Avec Vivendi, nous reviendrions vingt ans

Le président de Gameloft : « Avec Vivendi, nous reviendrions vingt ans en arrière »

Le 21 mars, Vivendi a lancé une OPA sur le capital de l’éditeur de jeux pour téléphones mobiles Gameloft, dont il a déjà acquis 30 %. Le groupe présidé par Vincent Bolloré est passé devant la famille Guillemot, qui détient 21 % des actions. Le président de Gameloft, Michel Guillemot, explique pourquoi ses actionnaires n’ont pas intérêt à apporter leurs titres à l’offre de l’homme d’affaires breton.
Que dites-vous aux actionnaires qui pourraient être tentés par l’offre de Vincent Bolloré ?
Vivendi est arrivé en octobre, à un moment où les dépenses, du fait d’importants investissements, étaient élevées, et les résultats assez bas. Cela leur a permis de développer une rhétorique selon laquelle Gameloft ne rapportait rien. Je dis aux actionnaires d’opter pour le plan d’affaires que nous avons présenté le 22 mars, afin de pouvoir transformer leurs investissements en résultat. L’OPA les priverait de la plus-value que Gameloft va créer.
Où en est le développement de Gameloft, qui a connu d’importantes pertes en 2015 ?
En 2013, le jeu mobile a vu émerger le « freemium » : le jeu est gratuit, l’achat de contenus supplémentaires payant. Ce mode de financement ne repose que sur un petit pourcentage de payeurs. J’ai donc choisi en 2014-2015 de créer notre propre régie publicitaire « programmatique » (automatisée) pour le compléter. Cette régie peut générer 150 millions d’euros de revenus supplémentaires par an.
Avez-vous été en contact avec Vincent Bolloré ou Arnaud de Puyfontaine, le président du directoire de Vivendi ?
Arnaud de Puyfontaine m’a contacté une seule fois en décembre, une semaine après m’avoir lancé un ultimatum. On ne discute pas avec un pistolet sur la tempe et, de toute façon, je n’ai pas le droit d’aller négocier en catimini avec un actionnaire pour lui donner des avantages qui n’iraient pas forcément dans le sens des autres actionnaires.
Mais ne devez-vous pas écouter tous les actionnaires ?
Je ne dois favoriser ni les uns ni les autres. Vivendi explique qu’il va nous aider à nous développer à l’international, c’est déjà 96 % de notre chiffre d’affaires ! Ils veulent nous donner du cash, nous en avons déjà. Tout ce dont la société a besoin, c’est de laisser le plus de liberté possible à ses développeurs. Cela ne fonctionne pas dans un conglomérat. On passerait d’une société qui travaille pour les grandes plateformes, Google, Apple, Facebook, à un éditeur qui crée des jeux pour des opérateurs comme Telecom Italia [dont Vivendi est actionnaire]. L’opérateur italien ne représente que 0,3 % de notre chiffre d’affaires.
Vivendi ne dit pas vouloir tout remettre en cause…
Vivendi dit qu’il ne veut rien demander. Mais regardez ce qui s’est passé chez Canal+, Dailymotion, Telecom Italia. Que reste-t-il du management ? Depuis vingt ans, la méthode de Vincent Bolloré est toujours la même. Nous ne sommes pas naïfs. Virer le fondateur d’une société de technologies, qui nécessite un très haut niveau de confiance entre ses salariés et son management, est un bon moyen de la tuer.
Pourriez-vous faire entrer de nouveaux actionnaires au capital de Gameloft ?
Nous avons beaucoup de partenaires en Asie, où nous avons mené une importante restructuration. Nous avons fermé nos studios en Corée, au Japon et en Chine pour travailler avec des partenaires locaux. Ces acteurs ont les moyens d’investir. Mais nous ne les démarchons pas, même si la réputation de Gameloft est élevée.
Votre concurrent King a été racheté par Activision, Supercell par SoftBank. Un éditeur mobile peut-il conserver son indépendance ?
Ces sociétés continuent d’avoir leur autonomie. Aucune n’a été absorbée. Si Gameloft était rachetée et passait à un management de la terreur, il y a des chances que les créatifs, qui n’ont que la rue à traverser pour aller travailler ailleurs, quittent l’entreprise. La perte de valeur potentielle est considérable.
Selon des analystes, Vivendi viserait Gameloft pour obliger Ubisoft, dont il détient 15 %, à négocier, en créant des divisions dans votre famille…
Avec mes frères, nous ne sommes pas du tout divisés. Mais nos deux sociétés sont gérées de façon indépendante et dans l’intérêt de leurs actionnaires respectifs. On a reproché à Ubisoft de ne pas protéger Gameloft, mais si un jour Ubisoft rachetait Gameloft, ce serait uniquement dans l’intérêt des actionnaires des deux sociétés. Ce scénario n’est pas à l’étude aujourd’hui.
Avec Yves [le patron d’Ubisoft], nous sommes d’accord pour dire qu’il y a incompatibilité. Instrumentaliser Gameloft au service d’un groupe de médias n’a aucun sens. Je ne serais pas ravi que Gameloft arrête de créer ses jeux qui cartonnent pour faire des extensions de films. On reviendrait vingt ans en arrière. Plus personne ne fait de jeux pour les films, à part pour des univers permanents comme Star Wars ou Les Minions. Les idées de Vivendi ne font pas rêver.
Allez-vous continuer de vous renforcer au capital ?
Mes quatre frères et moi possédons 20 % chacun du holding Guillemot Brothers, qui a une participation dans Gameloft et dans Ubisoft. Grâce à nos partenaires bancaires, nous sommes montés de 22 % à 29 % en droits de vote de Gameloft. Nous pourrions continuer. Nous sommes très peu endettés.
Vous avez déjà été attaqués par Electronic Arts, pourquoi ne pas avoir mieux protégé le capital de Gameloft ?
Nous avons choisi de réinvestir tous les bénéfices dans la société, alors que nous aurions pu racheter des actions pour nous renforcer au capital. J’aurais pu arrêter d’investir. Mais Gameloft aurait valu deux fois moins cher dans trois ans.

(Globes.IL) Elon Musk visits Mobileye in Israel

Musk viewed demonstrations of technologies Mobileye is developing for Tesla's self-driving vehicle system.
{http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-elon-musk-visits-mobileye-in-israel-1001113286}

Sources inform "Globes" that a few weeks ago billionaire Elon Musk, owner of electric car maker Tesla and promoter of various energy and space ventures, secretly visited Israel. Musk flew to Israel in a private plane to visit Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY), which is developing key components for Tesla's automatic driving system Autopilot, which the company intends to launch commercially within the next few years.

Automotive industry sources say the aim of the visit was to view a demonstration of several breakthrough developments by Mobileye in this field installed on a trial Tesla Model S vehicle. Two vehicles of this type have been in Israel for some time and are being used in the development of the automated system.

The system Mobileye is developing for Tesla is the first of its kind in the world, and it combines several advanced technologies that enable the vehicle to identify its environment, avoid obstacles, and move without driver intervention. Among the technologies are a system called DNN (digital neural network), which enables the vehicle to "learn" by gathering data on the move, and even to identify different kinds of road surface; free-space, which enables the automatic vehicle's systems to identify areas without defined objects such as hard shoulders of roads, sidewalks, and so on, and avoid collisions and deviations from the road; a "holistic path prediction", which enables a vehicle to select the correct path - on an open road, for example – even when there are no visual hints in the environment; and a sign identification system that can identify over 1,000 signs and road markings in use around the world.

As far as is known, Mobileye's system, which will be installed on the electric Tesla S and other Tesla models, will be modular, with some of its built-in capabilities being dormant initially, and ready to come into operation when regulatory barriers to automatic vehicles are removed. Mobileye declined to comment on the report.

General Motors has also recently started recruiting people in Israel in order to expand its research and development center in Herzliya. Among other things, the company intends to develop key parts of its future automated driving system in Israel.

NY Post : Staples closing in on Office Depot deal

Staples could be on the brink of winning its case against the Federal Trade Commission — possibly clearing the way for it to acquire Office Depot, sources told The Post.

The judge overseeing the FTC suit against the office supply chain said he will entertain a motion from Staples’ legal team to dismiss the case once the regulator concludes its arguments this week.

When a judge agrees to hear such a move — a judgment as a matter of law — he or she believes the plaintiff or prosecutor has failed to make its case, a lawyer not involved in the case told The Post on Monday.

“I’ve seen such motions, but never when the plaintiff is the government,” the lawyer said.

Judge Emmet Sullivan is not fan of the tactics of Edith Ramirez’s FTC. He ordered a transcript unsealed last week in which Amazon claimed the FTC coached it to lie.

“The judge is either playing games,” in the way he is taking the FTC to task, the lawyer said, “or the FTC is really in big trouble.”

The FTC and Department of Justice have won 9 of their last 10 merger challenges making this even more surprising, the source said.

The FTC in December voted 4-to-0 to block Staples from completing its $6.3 billion acquisition of Office Depot, arguing that the combo would leave no competition and result in higher prices.

The FTC has still not called its star witness Carl Shapiro, the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice.

Staples at present trading levels would be paying about $10 a share for Office Depot if the merger clears, and shares will fall to near $4.50 if the block holds.

Office Depot shares rose 7.7 percent Monday to $7.44.

(Exane) Maurel &Tullow Oil : Gabon production positive and negative

* Gabon downtime - limited impact
Maurel indicates that production is being limited while maintenance is performed on the export line
from its Ezanga license onshore Gabon. March production should be impacted by 30%, which
shouldn’t change the FY16 guidance of gross c.28kbo/d from Gabon. Importantly, Maurel has met
its 1 Dec -29 Feb 16 production covenant, which should delay the amortisation of the USD400m
RCF to 2017, thus providing M&P with EUR51m in additional liquidity in 2017/18. Immaterial
impact for Tullow, which also partners M&P in the Ezanga block with a 7.5% stake.

* Pressure limitations to reduce March Gabon production
Total received the final intelligent pigging report, which looked to identify any weaknesses in the
routing lines around the Coucal station, which are used by Maurel for its Ezanga/Gabon oil exports.
As a result, production is being constrained to allow work to be undertaken. Gross Ezanga
production started the month at just over 28kbo/d, before dropping to c.2-3kbo/d for a few days
from around 12 March and is now stabilised around 20kbo/d – production should remain at this
level until the end of the maintenance period, indicated as the end of March. As a result, gross
March production should average c.20kbo/d – down 30% on the year to date run-rate.

* Partners still in negotiation with Shell/Sinopec for alternative route
Maurel is in discussions with Shell/Sinopec for an alternative export South towards the Gamba
field. Should an arrangement be found (potentially by mid-year), c.5kbo/d of Ezanga production
could continue being exported even if there is unplanned downtime on the Total export pipeline.

* Positive that production covenant met
One of the covenants on the Maurel USD400m revolving credit facility required production from the
Gabon assets to exceed 22kbo/d (net) from 1 December 2015 to 29 February 2016. Maurel
announced that they achieved 22.088kbo/d, with strong, stable production since the start of the
year. As a result, Maurel’s RCF amortisation should only begin in Q1 17 at a rate of c.EUR17m per
quarter, rather than from Q2 16. This should provide c.EUR51m in additional liquidity in 2017/18.

NY Post : Facebook betting on VR porn to boost Oculus demand

As Oculus VR finally ships its virtual-reality headsets to the public, it’s heralding the potential of video games and movies — but it’s also quietly giving a wink to porn producers.

The Facebook-owned startup announced Monday that its new “Rift” headset has more than 30 games available as the first units ship this week, with 100 titles expected by the end of 2016.

Meanwhile, insiders say Facebook execs appear to be relying on another kind of content to drive demand for the Rift — namely, VR porn flicks.

To date, VR porn is viewed mainly on smartphone-powered headsets like the Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard. VR porn videos already number north of 1,000 from professional studios alone.

At industry conferences and in media interviews, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey has lately emphasized that the company will have an “open platform” for developers — porn producers included — even if Oculus doesn’t sell the smut on its official site.

This January, at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, execs from Oculus discreetly swung by a booth operated by Utherverse, whose VR porn sites include RedLightCenter and HoloGirlsVR.

“They said how impressed they were with what we were doing with VR porn,” said Utherverse Chief Executive Brian Shuster, who has cranked out 60 VR adult “scenes” and “experiences” to date. “They weren’t there to do anything except reconnaissance, but they’re certainly keeping an eye on what’s happening.”

That’s despite the fact that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who scooped up Oculus two years ago for $2 billion, likes to cultivate a squeaky-clean image as a family man and philanthropist.

Oculus reps didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“I joke that Luckey ought to give us a referral fee for every sale of the Rift,” says Todd Glider, CEO of VR porn studio BaDoink, which has already produced more than 50 VR porn videos — a number it expects to double this year.

“Companies like Oculus are not going to say, ‘Yes, we’re going to publicly endorse porn,’ ” Glider adds. “But behind the scenes, they have to be saying this is the driver.”

A nagging question for the Oculus Rift is what users can do with it once they’ve paid the asking price of $599, a tab that has struck many as surprisingly stiff — especially considering that the Rift doesn’t come with the high-end PC needed to run it, typically priced at $900 and up.

Ela Darling — a porn performer who started making VR porn videos in 2014 — thinks she has an answer.

Most VR porn is viewed on smartphones, which have scant memory, she said.

But with the superior processing power of the Oculus, “you can move back and forth, you can walk around, you can see from different angles,” she says. “It gives you a greater sense of presence and immersion.”

(UBS) European Luxury : We cut Richemont FY16 EPS by 7%, Swatch 2016 by 9%

* We cut Richemont FY16 EPS by 7%, Swatch 2016 by 9%
This reflects a weaker start to 2016 than we had expected and the subsequent
operating deleverage on margins given continued pressures from rental costs. For
Richemont we now sit 12% below consensus for FY16 and for Swatch we sit 10%
below. Given the importance of earnings momentum to short term share price
performance, we could see some weakness ahead. Our preference remains for
Richemont given its long term fundamentals including strong pricing power as well as
exposure to the branded jewellery market where there is a significant price mix
opportunity. Within European luxury our preference is for LVMH, Kering, Moncler and
Burberry.

* End consumer demand has seen a slowdown in 2016 to date
Worldwide tourism spending via Global Blue is +0.85% y/y in Q1 to date with Europe -
5%. This is a marked slowdown post +26% in 2015 and Q4 15 +13%. Company
commentary has also been more cautious from Swatch, Tiffany and the soft luxury
names that have recently reported. Rhetoric from the Basel watch fair has been bleak.

* Swiss watch export data for February –2% shows caution from the retailers
Adjusted for FX and an extra trading day we estimate wristwatches –c.12%. Retailers
remain overstocked and Hengdeli announced last week it has 248 days of inventory
which is 25% above target. This is reflected in this data with HK remaining soft at -
25% (Jan -33%) despite materially easier comps and Mainland China -7% (Jan -2%).
By price point, the situation was more mixed; the CHF200-500 segment (where Swatch
is most exposed) was -5.5% y/y (Jan -12%), while the luxury CHF3,000+ segment
(most important for Richemont) saw growth of 1% (Jan -7%) albeit on easier comps.

* How much of a risk is the Apple Watch?
UBS Evidence Lab commissioned a proprietary survey of 6,171 smartphone users across
the US, UK, Germany, mainland China (Tiers 1 and 2) and Japan in September/October
2015. We conclude that the first generation of the Apple Watch has been less of a
challenge for the Swiss watch industry than some had feared. The key risk for Swatch,
in our view, is whether the second-generation Apple Watch can change consumer
perceptions, and we see this as an overhang for the stock in 2016. Our downside
scenario for the Apple Watch suggests a 6-8% risk to Swatch's EBIT.

NYT : Private Equity Executive Accused of Faking Investments

A 39-year-old Wall Street executive, Andrew Caspersen came from a life of privilege and opportunity: Groton, Princeton and then Harvard Law School, where the student center is named after his family because of a generous gift from his father.

But the father had a secret that emerged only after he committed suicide in 2009: Finn M.W. Caspersen, a noted financier and philanthropist, was at the time being investigated by federal authorities, suspected of hiding tens of millions of dollars in a tax shelter.

Now it appears that his son, a former Blackstone Group managing principal, may have had his own secret.

Andrew Caspersen was arrested at La Guardia Airport on Saturday evening. On Monday, federal prosecutors working for Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for Manhattan, charged him in a criminal complaint with securities and wire fraud in what they called a “brazen” scheme to defraud investors — including a foundation affiliated with a major New York hedge fund — of up to $95 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel civil charges.

The authorities contend the executive used a fraudulent investment vehicle and fake emails to dupe the unidentified hedge fund foundation to sink $25 million into the scheme last fall.

Up until last week, Mr. Caspersen was still trying to persuade other institutional investors to give him money.

So persuasive was his pitch that an employee at the hedge fund firm also invested $400,000 with Mr. Caspersen, who lives with his wife in a home they recently bought in Bronxville, N.Y.

But the authorities said that he blew through most of that money “as a result of aggressive options trading” in his personal brokerage account.

Daniel Levy, Mr. Caspersen’s lawyer, declined to comment.

Mr. Caspersen was a partner at the Park Hill Group, which specializes in raising money for private equity firms and hedge funds. The Manhattan firm fired Mr. Caspersen on Monday and promptly removed his profile from its website.

Until last fall, Park Hill was part of the sprawling empire of the private equity giant the Blackstone Group. It is now part of PJT Partners, the advisory firm that was spun out of Blackstone and is run by the investment banker Paul J. Taubman. PJT said in statement that it was “stunned and outraged” to learn of the allegations. The firm added that it was cooperating with the authorities.

The case highlights the broader issue of how much research and checking institutional investors actually do when making an investment, and how much of it comes down to a personal connection and trust.

“This action amply demonstrates that even sophisticated institutional investors are not immune to financial scams,” said Andrew M. Calamari, director of the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which brought a civil complaint against Mr. Caspersen.

It may also raise questions about the internal controls in place at Park Hill, given that the authorities say Mr. Caspersen’s scheme went on for months before it was detected.

Shares of PJT Partners plunged nearly 11 percent on the news of the charges. Late Monday, Block & Leviton, the securities litigation firm, said it was investigating whether PJT and its officers and directors violated federal securities laws. The firm represents large institutional investors.

PJT said it believed Mr. Caspersen acted on his own. After learning of potential improper behavior, the firm conducted an internal investigation and reported the matter to federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Mr. Caspersen grew up mainly in an exclusive suburb in western New Jersey before attending the Groton School in Massachusetts, one of the most expensive boarding schools in the country. He was a captain of the football team and he also rowed.

After graduating from Groton in 1995, he went to Princeton University where he met Catherine F. MacRae, who was the daughter of a founding partner of the law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, which later merged to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. The two dated for several years.

Ms. MacRae, a research analyst at Fred Alger Management, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center. She had worked in Fred Alger’s offices on the 93rd floor of the north tower.

Together with Ms. MacRae’s family, Mr. Caspersen created a memorial fund to benefit education programs for children from low-income families.

Mr. Caspersen’s father, Finn M.W. Caspersen, was a prominent philanthropist and the heir to the Beneficial Corporation fortune. The elder Mr. Caspersen was chairman and chief executive of the consumer finance company for nearly two decades before selling the firm in 1998 for $8.6 billion to Household International, which was later acquired by the London-based bank HSBC.

In 2008, Finn Caspersen pledged $30 million to Harvard Law. A year later, he killed himself at age 67 with a single gunshot to the head. About 800 people attended his funeral in Morristown, N.J.

Mr. Caspersen was known to be battling kidney cancer when he killed himself. But soon after it emerged that his name had surfaced in a federal government crackdown on overseas banks that were helping wealthy Americans shelter money to avoid paying taxes.

Finn Caspersen was an active supporter of New Jersey Republicans like former Gov. Tom Kean. Mr. Caspersen was also well known in equestrian circles and was said to have competed with Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, in Windsor, England.

The scheme of the younger Mr. Caspersen, federal authorities say, began last summer and ended only a few weeks ago. It is not clear why the executive, who arguably was successful and wealthy in his own right, may have needed the money.

Still, last summer Mr. Caspersen, who had previously lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, set up a shell company called Irving Place III SPV LLC that he soon began seeking to raise money for from institutional investors, the authorities said.

The shell company was similar to the name of a legitimate investment vehicle that Park Hill was raising money for at the time called Irving Place Capital Partners III SPV. Irving Place Capital was originally a private equity fund of Bear Stearns, the Wall Street firm that imploded in 2008.

Mr. Caspersen, who previously worked for Coller Capital, a fund that buys private equity fund assets, never told prospective investors the shell company was controlled completely by him, the authorities said. Mr. Caspersen made up email accounts and invented employees and even went as far as to create a fake domain name to further the scheme, they said.

The scheme began to fall apart this month when the foundation affiliated with the hedge fund asked for its $25 million plus interest to be returned, the authorities said. On March 11, Mr. Caspersen said the funds would be returned by the end of the month. The foundation has not yet received the money, the authorities said.

A few days later, on March 14, Park Hill learned that Mr. Caspersen was raising money for his own investment vehicle when an unidentified firm complained about it. Park Hill then hired lawyers from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, including litigation partner Aidan Synnott, to conduct an internal investigation. The law firm notified federal prosecutors of its findings the next day.

By March 18, authorities said the account where the hedge fund’s foundation had wired its $25 million had a balance of roughly $40,000.

Mr. Caspersen was released on Monday after he posted a $5 million bond co-signed by three people and secured by two residences.