President of Gameloft "With Vivendi, we will return back twenty years"
On 21 March, Vivendi launched a takeover bid for the games publisher Gameloft for mobile phones, which has already acquired 30%. The group chaired by Vincent Bolloré passed by the Guillemot family, which owns 21% of shares. President of Gameloft, Michel Guillemot explains why shareholders have no incentive to bring their shares to the offer of the Breton businessman.
What do you say to shareholders who might be tempted by the offer of Vincent Bolloré?
Vivendi arrived in October, at a time when spending because major investments were high and quite low results. This enabled them to develop a rhetoric that Gameloft reported nothing. I say to shareholders to opt for the business plan that we presented on 22 March, in order to transform their investments in income. The takeover would deprive them of the added value that Gameloft will create.
Where is the development of Gameloft, which has experienced significant losses in 2015?
In 2013, mobile gaming has emerged the "freemium": the game is free, the purchase of additional paid content. This method of financing is based on only a small percentage of defaulters. So I chose in 2014-2015 to create our own advertising agency "programmatic" (automated) to complete. This board may generate 150 million euros in additional revenue per year.
Have you been in contact with Vincent Bolloré or Arnaud de Puyfontaine, chief executive of Vivendi?
Arnaud de Puyfontaine contacted me once in December, a week after having issued an ultimatum. You do not argue with a gun to his head and, anyway, I have no right to go and negotiate in secret with a shareholder to give it advantages which do not necessarily go in the direction of other shareholders.
But should not you listen to all shareholders?
I must promote neither one nor the other. Vivendi says it will help us grow internationally, it is already 96% of our revenue! They want to give us cash, we already have. All that society needs is to leave as much freedom as possible to its developers. This does not work in a conglomerate. We would move from a company that works for the major platforms, Google, Apple, Facebook, an editor who creates games for operators such as Telecom Italia [which Vivendi is a shareholder]. The Italian operator only represents 0.3% of our turnover.
Vivendi says not want any question ...
Vivendi says he will ask. But look what happened at Canal +, Dailymotion, Telecom Italia. What remains of the management? For twenty years, the method of Vincent Bolloré is always the same. We are not naive. Turn the founder of a technology company, which requires a very high level of trust between employees and management, is a good way to kill her.
Could you bring new shareholders to the capital of Gameloft?
We have many partners in Asia, where we conducted a major restructuring. We closed our studios in Korea, Japan and China to work with local partners. These actors have the resources to invest. But we do not canvass, though Gameloft's reputation is high.
Your competitor King was acquired by Activision, Supercell by SoftBank. Can a mobile publisher remain independent?
These companies continue to have their autonomy. None has been absorbed. If Gameloft was acquired and passed to a management terror, there are chances that creative, who have only to cross the street to work elsewhere, leaving the company. The potential loss in value is considerable.
Analysts said Vivendi would aim to compel Gameloft Ubisoft, which he owns 15%, to negotiate, creating divisions in your family ...
My brothers, we are not divided. But both companies are managed independently and in the interests of their respective shareholders. Ubisoft has been criticized for not protecting Gameloft, but if one day Gameloft Ubisoft redeemed, it would be in the interest of shareholders of both companies. This scenario is not under consideration today.
Yves [the boss of Ubisoft], we agree that inconsistency. Gameloft exploit the service of a media group has no meaning. I would not be pleased that Gameloft stops creating its games cartonnent for extensions of films. We would back twenty years. Nobody makes games for films, except for permanent universe like Star Wars or The Minions. Vivendi's ideas are not dreaming.
Will you continue to strengthen you to the capital?
My four brothers and I own 20% each of the holding company Guillemot Brothers, which has a stake in Gameloft and Ubisoft. Through our banking partners, we went from 22% to 29% by Gameloft voting rights. We could continue. We are very little debt.
Have you been attacked by Electronic Arts, why not have better protected the capital from Gameloft?
We chose to reinvest all profits in the company, so that we could buy back shares to strengthen our capital. I could have stopped investing. But Gameloft would have earned half as much in three years.