FILE PHOTO: A view of the Ubisoft Entertainment logo on a panel during a news conference at the company's headquarters in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, September 8, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) -Shares in video game maker Ubisoft surged over 30% on Friday after Bloomberg reported that major shareholder Tencent and the Guillemot family, its founders, were considering a buyout of the company.
Shares in the maker of "Assassin's Creed" were last up 27% at 13.54 euros, set for the biggest one-day jump on record.
Ubisoft declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters. The Guillemot family did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The family owns 15% of the company, while Chinese gaming giant Tencent owns just under 10%, according to LSEG data.
Ubisoft's stock was down 54% for the year at Thursday's close, as the game maker cut its guidance and postponed the release of "Assassin's Creed Shadows" by three months.
It also is facing pressure from activist investor AJ Investments, who called for a CEO change and urged it to go private or be sold and said last week it has gathered support from 10% of its shareholders.
Midcap Partners analyst Charles-Louis Planade said it was not surprising that Ubisoft was attracting interest.
"Ubisoft is clearly a unique asset in the sector, and a number of major players have tried to penetrate the open-world action/adventure genre that Ubisoft has mastered to perfection," he said.
(Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, writing by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Toby Chopra)
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