After a year of negotiations, they struck a deal: Vivendi would buy a controlling stake in Activision. Then, Vivendi would merge its video game division into Activision to create a new publicly traded company called Activision Blizzard. Morhaime gathered Blizzard’s employees to announce the news. When they asked what this merger would mean for them, he responded with a few solemn words. Blizzard was doing well. World of Warcraft was printing more money than the US Treasury. Nobody at Vivendi or Activision wanted to do anything that might stop the golden goose from laying eggs. Nothing was
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