Chapter 192 190. Collective resignation!? A major earthquake in the industry!

Shortly after Bomi contacted France's Vivendi Company, foreign reports made the matter very hype.

At the beginning, Chinese companies gradually became the past, and the target of reporting became others.

According to reports, in the past month, in addition to Chinese companies, six other bids have been placed on the desk of Vivendi President Fultu.

Moreover, it is said that Fultu is very persistent in the price for sale and is tightened by 2 billion and not relaxed.

Who would spend $2 billion to buy VUG? Who would become Blizzard's new owner? Various rumors are rampant. Industry giants such as Microsoft, EA, Activision, Take-Two have been fortunate to become the protagonists of "scandals".

But in fact, even though these companies have been in contact with them, their views are similar to Cao Yang, who believes that even if Blizzard includes, Vivendi's game business unit is not worth that much money.

The highest offer comes from Microsoft, which is about $420 million, which is still a distance away from the $500 million that Cao Yang had after he made the reply.

Although Microsoft is rich and powerful, it consumes a lot of money. It finally won the game console market some time ago. With more than 5 years of research and development, x-box came from behind and successfully entered the game console field, becoming the biggest enemy of PS2.

Until now, Microsoft is basically spending money to sell game consoles and opening up the market through low-price wars. So even now, xbox still has not brought revenue to Microsoft, and has caused years of losses.

Microsoft's ability to allocate $420 million is already a considerable concession, and the reason why they want to buy Vivendi is very simple-

In order to expand the gaming field in the future, the game console can only be said to have built a platform, but the real money is actually the game software part.

But the 2 billion price tag offered by Vivendi is indeed daunting.

Therefore, although many companies are greedy for Blizzard, they do not have the courage or strength to take this step.

So I kept dragging it.

As a result, media reports later said that Vivendi actually had no sincerity or willingness to sell the game department, and he was probably just teasing you.

...

In March, David Bruvik, one of the founders of Northern Blizzard and the current president of the company, heard about Vivendy's sale of the game business unit and felt very anxious and indignant.

Blizzard is really a company with a ill-fated life. Since its establishment, it has been unable to escape the fate of being acquired. So far, Blizzard has [forced] changed 5 parent companies.

It seems that there is still momentum to continue to be replaced.

As for Vivendi's operations, Blizzard personnel were actually very panicked. After Vivendi acquired Xueleshan, he laid off employees, squeezed them dry, airborne them, and changed the department.

If it is sold this time, Blizzard has no idea what fate it will face in the future.

So after this incident fermented, the insiders of Blizzard in the North came to David Bruvik.

"It won't work like this. Will Vivandi really want to sell us?"

"It is possible to sell it to a Chinese company? If this continues, who will still be in the mood to work?"

David Bruvik advised them with kind words to calm their emotions, but he himself had such concerns and concerns.

Everyone discussed it with great enthusiasm for a while, and finally elected David Bruvik to negotiate with the parent company.

"Okay." David Bruwick nodded, "Then I'll talk to the senior management of the parent company as much as possible, but everyone should make plans to pursue the bad."

"Well, no problem." Other employees agreed.

Everyone's interests are the same, and they advance and retreat together.

"I think we can use resignation as our last bargaining chip. If the parent company really wants to sell us, then we will submit our resignation and force them not to do this," said David Bruwick.

The others thought for a moment and nodded in agreement with his proposal.

At least so far, in the eyes of Blizzard in the North, it is impossible for the parent company to let them leave.

Leaving them, Blizzard in the North is nothing.

You should know that they created the Diablo series for the company, and Blizzard in the North is still working on Diablo 3.

Without these old employees, it will be difficult for Diablo 3 to maintain its original essence in the future.

Everyone was still very confident, so after the discussion, they agreed to David Bruvik's proposal. After all, there were not many bargaining chips to negotiate.

The only option for the last bargaining chip is resignation.

If so many people resign together, it will definitely cause an uproar.

...

When destiny is no longer in your own hands, as a team leader, the first thing that comes to mind is to strive for a more reasonable ending for yourself, for your team, and for your products.

March 2003.

Bill Roper called Fultu from the United States, the new president of the parent company in Paris, France.

On the phone, David Bruvik asked bluntly, "Mr. Fultu, is it true that the company that has been rumored to be selling us recently?"

"Uh-huh."

Fultu was a little surprised at first, but what he was surprised was not because of the sale of the game division, but because people from Blizzard in the North called him.

"Mr. Furtu, the Northern Blizzard employees I represent, I hope you can consider not selling the game business unit. We can create more value for the company. What's more, Diablo 3 is still under development, and Southern Blizzard is also producing "Warcraft 3". If you sell the company's game unit, it's not worth it."

"But... we have also considered various factors to make this difficult decision..."

Furtu explained why they should be sold is not the final decision of one person, but the result of mutual negotiation.

This is actually self-evident, and it is the shareholders behind Vivandi.

The game department is not profitable and has a high loss rate, which has always been criticized. The company's senior management and shareholders have actually been patient for a long time and have not seen any results reversed.

Moreover, your Blizzard's gang of people are always delaying their votes. It can be said that the company has been extremely tolerant and has given you too many opportunities, but you are not always doing things that are losing money.

So the two of them talked on the phone for a long time, and it took about an hour.

Although the core is arguing about why you should sell it and why you cannot...

In the end, his words became more and more intense.

The above attitude is very firm, and this is a decision made by the board of directors...

Fultu had no choice but to insist, and in the end David Bruvik had no choice but to use his trump card, "Mr. Fultu, I hope that the company's senior management and shareholders can think more, because doing so will actually cause a strong harm to us and Vivendi.

If you continue like this…”

David Bruvik hesitated for a moment, and his colleagues around him stared at him with their breath.

Finally David Bruwick said the words, "Then we can only be forced to leave the company."

a long time.

On the other side of the phone, Fultu only said, "That's nothing to do."

Then hung up the phone.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"What does this mean?"

Vice President Bill Robert looked at him with a surprised and suspicious look.

"They must have thought we didn't have the courage to resign. Now that things are, they can only take the last step and give it a try." David said.

...

The next morning, Fultu received an email from many people from Blizzard in the North.

There are as many as 25 people in this group.

The most terrifying thing is that the four founders of Blizzard in the North collectively submitted their resignation.

Four founders:

North Blizzard President David Bruvik, Vice President Bill Robert, Vice President Eric Skefu, and Vice President Max Skefu.

This incident caused a major earthquake for the entire Vivendi and the entire gaming industry.

If any company encounters such a situation, it is probably unwilling to let the core personnel go, let alone a game company known overseas like Blizzard.

The Diablo series is a classic in the minds of countless players and a Bible in the eyes of game developers.

Many of the later real-time games and online games had dark shadows.

Now that these people resign collectively, it is like an avalanche for any company.

However, Vivendi is a weird company.

They really don’t care about the game department. Not to mention the Northern Blizzard, the entire game department is just an abandoned child in their eyes.

Since these people dare to resign, the superiors really dare to criticize them.

Fultu did not hesitate much, nor did he want to start a plan to negotiate with these old stubborn people from Blizzard in the North, but just approved their resignation very decisively and resolutely.

...

A week later, four founders of Northern Blizzard and more than 20 core personnel resigned collectively, which immediately triggered a major earthquake in the entire industry.

"Damn, how is this possible?"

A player named Adam Chandler said, "In our players' minds, Northern Blizzard and Southern Blizzard are integrated and inseparable. What are the senior executives of Vivendi thinking? They actually allow the core members of Northern Blizzard to leave?

Are they brains broken? Or are they possessed by the devil?!"

"If it were me, I must kick Fultu's ass hard, so that he could clearly realize that the game company is not just about making money because of this name, but most importantly, people.
To be continued...