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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

RPT-Bollore to join Vivendi board after raises stake, (NASDAQ: ATVI)

French corporate raider Vincent Bollore will join Vivendi's board after lifting his stake to 5 percent, putting his restructuring skills at the disposal of the ill-fitting media and telecoms conglomerate.Vivendi is reviewing its disparate portfolio of businesses in a bid to boost its stock price, which has hovered at decade lows this year, and cut its 14.1 billion euro ($18.2 billion) debt load.Although the group insists it is in no hurry to make decisions on its future, it has also said there are "no taboos", so selling assets such as Brazilian telco GVT and video games maker Activision Blizzard or carving up the group in some other way could all be on the table.The arrival of billionaire Bollore, known for his shrewd investments in struggling companies such as ad agency Havas and industrial tube maker Vallourec, will raise investor hopes he can apply his magic to Vivendi, which has struggled to fix on a strategy since a debt-fuelled buying binge under former CEO Jean-Marie Messier almost drove it to bankruptcy a decade ago.

Activision, Inc. (Activision Blizzard) is a worldwide publisher of online, personal computer (PC), console, handheld, and mobile interactive entertainment products. Shares of ATVI fell by 0.8% or $-0.09/share to $11.22. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $10.94 and as high as $14.40. On average, 7922220 shares of ATVI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1313307.



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