Ubisoft Fends Off Hostile Takeover By Vivendi’s Billionaire Owner, More To Come

French video game developer Ubisoft has been embroiled in a war between two sides vying for control for months now and it barely survived a hostile takeover this time. Vincent Bolloré, the French billionaire boss of Vivendi SA wants to take control of the company, which he already has a 23 percent stake in. Bolloré abstained from making any moves this time, but he is far from done with the video game giant.

Ubisoft founders, Yves and Gérard Guillemot, have been struggling to keep Vivendi from taking control of the company, which the brothers view as a family business. They simply don’t want the French conglomerate to have any say on company practices or influence how they make games or any decisions pertaining to Ubisoft, The Wall Street Journal reports.

During the board meeting, the brothers were getting ready to fight for their positions on the board, which many were expecting were in jeopardy if Vivendi decides to have them replaced. Considering the significant equity interest that it has in the company, it would have had enough clout to remove the founders from having any control in Ubisoft.

As it turns out, however, Vivendi abstained from making any such attempt to oust the Guillemot siblings. However, it still managed to cause some problems by refusing to vote on certain resolutions, which then derailed certain programs that Ubisoft had in the works.

Vivendi is known for its propensity to resort to hostile takeovers, Polygon reports, which is the primary reason why the brothers were nervous about its intent on adding more members to Ubisoft’s board. Its preferred method of doing so has been to influence other board members to see things their way, which did not seem to have worked in their favor this time around.

This doesn’t mean that Bolloré’s company will leave Ubisoft alone now, though. People familiar with the inner machinations of the video game titan are already saying that Vivendi will be changing its approach to getting what it wants.