Sega reveals plans to buy Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds

Sega's mascot, and arguably its biggest and best franchise, is Sonic the Hedgehog.

Rovio is a Finnish company that has overseen the Angry Birds franchise since its inception in 2009. Although it has worked on other games as well, Rovio is very much known as the Angry Birds developer first and foremost. The fowl-flinging games were so popular that two feature film adaptations have been made, releasing into cinemas in 2016 and 2019 respectively, as well as several animated TV shows.

And now for the business bit! It has been announced that "SEGA aims to acquire the entirety of Rovio’s outstanding shares and options at EUR 9.25 per share and EUR 1.48 per option, or EUR 706 million in total". If you were wondering, by today's exchange rate, that would be around £6.23 million here in the UK.

This has been described in the press materials as "a friendly takeover, as Rovio’s board of directors has agreed to, and has expressed support towards the Tender Offer".

The official announcement adds: "SEGA aims to accelerate its growth in the global gaming market and increase its corporate value by generating synergies between SEGA’s existing businesses and Rovio’s strengths, including its global IPs and live-operated mobile game development capabilities."

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Sega went on to list "Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation" as a key component here, as the Japanese company aims "to bring SEGA’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market, where there is large potential, and many users can be accessed".

Another reason listed for the deal is the "expansion of both companies’ fanbase by sharing know-how regarding multi-media expansion of global characters". The fact is mentioned that both companies have expanded beyond gaming into other media such as movies.

Sega will also work with Rovio to "support cross-platform expansion of Rovio’s IP using SEGA’s capabilities", so it sounds like both companies will benefit in some ways off the back off this deal.

Sega's president and group CEO Haruki Satomi said in a statement: "I am confident that, through combination of both companies’ brands, characters, fanbase, as well as corporate culture and functionality, there will be significant synergies created going forward."

Alexandre Pelletier-Normand, CEO of Rovio, added: "Our mission is to ‘Craft Joy’ and we are thrilled at the idea of using our expertise and tools to bring even more joy to our players, enhancing and expanding Rovio’s and SEGA’s vibrant IPs.

"Red and Sonic the Hedgehog: two globally recognized and iconic characters made by two remarkably complementary companies, with a worldwide reach that spans mobile, PC/console, and beyond. Combining the strengths of Rovio and SEGA presents an incredibly exciting future."

The announcement notes that the acquisition will take some time to complete, with the "second quarter of FY2024/3" being the expected window in which the deal will be closed. By our calculations, that means the deal should be completed around about spring 2024. Birds and hedgehogs will presumably live in peace from then onwards.

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