It originally announced its intent to acquire King in November 2015. This also represents one of the most successful acquisition prices for a European startup, with King headquartered out of London.Īctivision Blizzard estimates that the deal will bring it revenues of $6.25 billion for 2016, with operating income of over $2 billion. King is the publisher of the popular Candy Crush series of social and mobile games, while Activision Blizzard’s best known titles include World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The game accounts for about 45 percent of King’s quarterly revenue.īoth companies underscored that the acquisition will create on of the largest global entertainment networks with over half a billion combined monthly active users in 196 countries, hopefully helping make Activision Blizzard a global leader in mobile gaming.Activision Blizzard today announced that it has closed its acquisition of King Digital for $5.9 billion, a deal that it says makes it the largest game network in the world with more than 500 million users. In Candy Crush Saga alone, players spent $1.3 billion via In-App Purchases in 2014. The deal will help extend Activision’s reach in mobile, where the company fares poorly against upstarts like King, whose Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga games are among the top five highest-grossing mobile games in the United States. “We will combine our expertise in mobile and free-to-play with Activision Blizzard’s world-class brands and proven track record of building and sustaining the most successful franchises, to bring the best games in the world to millions of players worldwide.”Īccording to King Digital CEO Riccardo Zacconi, his company claimed an astounding 474 million monthly active users on mobile and Facebook in the September quarter.

“We believe that the Acquisition will position us very well for the next phase of our company’s evolution and will bring clear benefits to our players and employees,” King said in a prepared statement.

The transaction is expected to be completed by Spring 2016. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the deal, which is pending approval by King’s shareholders and the Irish High Court.

Renowned games publisher Activision Blizzard is purchasing King Digital, the maker of the popular Candy Crush Saga videogame series, in a transaction valued at a whooping $5.9 billion, the two companies announced Tuesday.Īctivision, best-known for the World of Warcraft, Diablo and Call of Duty videogame series, said ABS Partners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, will acquire all of the outstanding shares of King for $18 in cash per share, for a total equity value of $5.9 billion.

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