ISLAMABAD: The maker of the Angry Birds games, Rovio Entertainment, has held negotiations with larger rival Sega Sammy Holdings over its possible takeover.
In February, Rovio Entertainment announced it had launched the review of the business, including holding discussions over its potential sale.
The Wall Street Journal said earlier the deal could be worth about one bn dollars. Rovio declined to comment on the actual value of its sale. But it confirmed that it was in discussions with the Japanese gaming giant, the maker of the famous Sonic the Hedgehog titles.
Sega Sammy said on Monday in a separate statement: “This topic will be discussed by our board of directors today, April 17, 2023, and we’ll announce promptly when any decisions are made concerning this strategic option.” Rovio held talks with Israeli rival Playtika Holding earlier this year over a potential takeover. Those discussions ended the previous month without a deal.
Finland-based Rovio known for Angry Birds brand
Finland-based Rovio is known for the Angry Birds brand, which started as a popular game in 2009. Rovio has said that Angry Birds was the initial mobile game to be downloaded one billion times. The brand has seen many spin-off versions and produced two Angry Birds movies.
The previous year, the company said that downloads across its stable games had reached five billion. Rovio has yet to develop a follow-up to reproduce the world popularity of Angry Birds. That has made it a potential takeover hit for bigger gaming companies like Sega. Rovio has around 550 employees across its eight-game studios around the globe.
As of the end of trading Friday, Rovio had a stock market valuation of 707m dollars. Sega Sammy is a Japanese world-holding company formed by the merger 2004 of video game giant Sega and Sammy Corporation in 2004.
Sega has produced many multi-million-selling video game franchises and is known internationally for its Sonic the Hedgehog character. Sammy develops and sells amusement arcade machines. Sega Sammy shares were around 3% lower on Monday in Tokyo.
