Activision buys back shares from Vivendi in a deal worth $8.17 billion

Game publisher (and makers of the hit Call of Duty series) Activision is officially on its own again now that it has made the move to buy back $5.83 billion worth of stock from parent company Vivendi. That amounts to approximately 429 million shares. Separately, a new investment group led by Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick and co-chairman Brian Kelly will purchase an additional 172 million shares from Vivendi for $2.34 billion.

Vivendi will retain 83 million shares, or 12 percent, of Activision, but the public now owns the majority of Activision’s stock.