Tencent Holdings Ltd. is discussing the purchase of SoftBank Group Corp.’s majority stake in Supercell Oy in a deal that may value the Finnish gamemaker at $9 billion, higher than previously thought, according to people familiar with the matter.
The talks are at an early stage and the acquisition may still fall apart, said the people, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. SoftBank acquired a majority interest in Helsinki-based Supercell for about $1.5 billion in 2013, and increased that to 73 percent last year. Bloomberg News reported last month that SoftBank was considering a sale of Supercell, which makes Clash of Clans and other mobile games, and that the deal would value the company at more than $5 billion.
Some context:
Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billions
Facebook bought Oculus Rift for $2 billions
Activision Blizzard bought King for $5.9 billions
This valuation is also many times ahead of market cap of gaming companies, even for some AAA western publishers. Softbank made like 3-4 billions in 3 years if this deal go through at that price.
Source: Bloomberg