The acquisition has been unanimously approved by board of directors of both companies and should complete by spring 2016

Nov 3, 2015 04:07 GMT  ·  By

After buying itself from Vivendi, Activision Blizzard has just made a bold move by acquiring mobile game developer and publisher King, owners of Candy Crush franchise.

It looks like Activision has decided to bet big on mobile gaming since it spent a huge amount of money on the acquisition of King.

According to an official press release published slightly earlier today, Activision Blizzard acquired King for no less than $5.9 billion (€4.45 billion).

The agreement confirms that the $18.00 per share purchase price implies a 20% premium over King’s 30 October 2015 closing price, a 26% premium over King’s 30 October 2015 enterprise value (which excludes net cash), a 23% premium over King’s one-month volume weighted average price per share and a 27% premium over King’s three-month volume weighted average price per share.

Acquisition will be completed by spring 2016

It's also worth mentioning that one of the biggest acquisitions in the gaming industry has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of both Activision Blizzard and King.

The acquisition is subject to approval by King's shareholders and the Irish High Court, and it's currently expected to be completed by spring 2016.

“The combined revenues and profits solidify our position as the largest, most profitable standalone company in interactive entertainment.

“With a combined global network of more than half a billion monthly active users, our potential to reach audiences around the world on the device of their choosing enables us to deliver great games to even bigger audiences than ever before,” said Bobby Kotick, chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard.

So, are we going to see any Warcraft Saga or Candy Hearthstone games coming from Blizzard in the not so distant future? Don't hesitate to share your wildest thoughts with us in the comments section.