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Activision–King Acquisition: 1 of the Largest Entertainment Networks

Activision Blizzard to Acquire King Digital for $5.9 Billion

(Continued from Prior Part)

Global leader in mobile gaming

Activision’s (ATVI) $5.9 billion acquisition of King Digital (KING) should create one of the largest entertainment networks globally. The combined entity would have over half a billion monthly active users (MAU) in 196 countries. Its audience’s global reach, including casual and core gamers, would extend Activision’s reach, creating opportunities to cross-promote content and helping to engage new players with ATVI’s franchises.

Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO, said, “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.”

Following this acquisition, Activision Blizzard should become a global leader in mobile gaming, which is considered the largest and fastest-growing area of interactive entertainment. Mobile gaming is expected to generate approximately $36 billion in revenue globally by the end of fiscal 2015 and is anticipated to grow by over 50% from 2015 to 2019.

Diverse portfolio with leadership across platforms and genres

The combined company’s portfolio will include ten of the world’s most popular and iconic interactive entertainment franchises. It will also have three of the top five highest-grossing mobile games currently in the United States—Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga, the most successful console game franchise globally, and Call of Duty. Plus, it will boast the world’s most successful personal gaming computing franchise, World of Warcraft.

This diverse portfolio, spanning different platforms and genres, indicates that the firm is well positioned for continued long-term growth.

Activision comprises 0.49% of the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ) and 0.39% of the iShares S&P GSTI (TM) Technology ETF (IGM). Electronic Arts (EA), another firm in the home entertainment, space comprises 0.36% of QQQ.

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