In July 2013, leading video game publisher Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) decided to get out from under majority owner Vivendi’s yoke, agreeing to pay $8.2 billion for most of the France-based conglomerate’s position. According to the announcement, $5.8 billion will be purchased by the company and $2.4 billion of the shares will be purchased by investors led by the company’s CEO and Chairman. The purchase reduces Activision’s share count significantly, by roughly 38%, increasing the value of remaining shareholders’ stakes. So, should investors share management’s enthusiasm?
What’s the value?
In FY2013, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) posted mixed results, as the lack of major title releases led to a tough comparison to its prior-year period when it had immediate commercial success with its latest Diablo game. For the period, the company posted a 13.9% decline in revenue, but a 41.9% increase in operating income, after adjusting for the effects of deferred revenue. While Activision’s top-line growth was weak, it generated a large increase in operating margin as management continues to focus its resources on its top game franchises.
Looking ahead, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)’s near-term results are dependent on the console makers, as its game customers wait for the next generation hardware from Sony and Microsoft. In the meantime, the company is trying to drive incremental sales of new content through its online channel, an area that registered a sales increase in FY2013. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) is also trying to mitigate the threats from game developers that offer their products for free and hope to cash in on advertising and virtual goods purchases.
Free: A tough business model
Of course, giving your product away for free and hoping to cash in on the back-end is a risky proposition as leading developer Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has found out through experience. The company has grown exponentially over the past five years as it produced popular games, including Zynga Poker and Farmville, and integrated itself tightly into Facebook, the source of roughly 86% of its overall revenue in 2012. However, near-term results have been hurt by negative growth in its user base and a need to restructure its top-heavy administrative overhead.
In FY2013, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) posted weak financial results, with a 24.4% decline in revenue and a steep drop in adjusted operating income. While the company continues to have three of the top ten games played on Facebook’s game network, its daily average users declined to 39 million from 72 million in the prior-year period. Fortunately, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has a strong financial base, with over $1.5 billion in cash and marketable securities, but it has a hard road ahead in order to find profits from its free model.
Another way to go
Given competition and often changing loyalties in the video game sector, investors might want to consider the video game distributors that benefit from overall growth of the sector. GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) dominates the sector through its global network of over 6,600 retail stores, as well as its complementary businesses that include its Game Informer magazine, the third-largest consumer publication in the U.S. While the company was thought to be a dinosaur as more consumers purchase games online, it has morphed into a multi-channel operator and a valuable trade partner for consumers in the pre-owned market.
