Vivendi to acquire Sulake OY

[Bobu]

Vivendi Holdings Company (which owns subsiduaries such as Universal, NBC and Maroc) has announced at it's annual keynote in Geneva that it is in the final stages of a financing and protocol agreement to acquire Sulake OY for $322M. Sulake plans to surrender it's holdings to Vivendi in March 2009 (by which date their servers in Finland will have been paid off in full). The name "Sulake" will ultimately be phased out, with "Vivendi Games" being the sucsessor to the Habbo Hotel franchise. Vivendi Games is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multiplatform interactive entertainment. The company is the leader in the subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG) category and is building on its position in the PC, console and handheld games markets.

The Habbo Hotel brand of course will continue, and will be "vastly improved upon" according to Jean-Bernard Levy, the CEO of Vivendi SA.

Vivendi will take control of Sulake in October 2008, and will fully own the rights to Habbo Hotel by March 2009, when it will be transfered to Vivendi Games.

So, here's to new improvements on Habbo from Vivendi in the future!

Vivendi Games

Vivendi is planning on buying out Sulake, though this is still in the planning phases. The keynote in Geneva had discussed the POSSIBILITY of buying out Sulake for just over 300M (Bit less than 322M). The company's CEO had stated that if they were to buy out Sulake, they would "make some minor improvements, though the handling of the game would stay the same." Chief Financial Officer Jac Espinasse, had said that the reality of this deal going through is easily capable within the company's budget, though chances are low right now, because they are in the midst of an in depth analysis into the company, before making any moves.

[cunning]

Good money, they wasted some money though. I wonder what "improvements" are there.

[mlp16]

I think habbo would need something new.. or it will just die out like any other website.

[CHA!NGANG]

So, does this mean, it will be re-named from Habbo Hotel and all the current staff will be gone?

[Xarea]

So, does this mean, it will be re-named from Habbo Hotel and all the current staff will be gone?

You need to read - it will still be named Habbo Hotel, and it will be exactly the same staff, etc. but when Habbo loads, it will say "Vivendi" instead of Sulake.

Think of it as the company who makes it swapping names - all the staff will still be under contract, unles Vivendi want to let them go.

[CHA!NGANG]

Eww I just woke up, not in a reading mood. But thanks for clearing that up +Reps

[7]

well thats annoyed me, i thought sulake were quite good

[LoveToStack]

Tenner bet it gets turned into a game about Worlocks within days of the takeover.
We shall not pass.

[Jack.Lfc]

Good **** sulake.

[le harry]

Wow, cool, wicked, amazing, sick.