The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ubisoft, France's largest video game maker, said they still have the power to decide on cooperation agreements despite the stake being bought by China's Tencent.
The statement was made by CEO Yves Guillemot to quell strong speculation that the company lost the majority of its decision-making power after Tencent acquired an 11% stake.
Guillemot explained that the company remains completely independent and that they can negotiate with any external company if they want.
For the record Tencent has bought a total of 11% of Ubisoft's stake, seeing the company's shares drop 17% a day later, at a value of at least $10 billion last month.
The move indirectly bolstered speculation that Tencent is legally taking over the entire company as Guillemot holds a minority stake in the group.
In the meantime, Ubisoft has spent almost 200 million Euros in cash to maintain its operations throughout the 2020/2021 financial year compared to 169 million the previous year.
Among the popular games released by Ubisoft are Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
As of this writing Ubisoft shares are trading up 016% at €36.59 while Tencent shares are up 1.72% at HKD307.00
