Vivendi, the parent company of Activision Blizzard, is considering making a move to extract cash from the publisher after they failed to sell their 61% stake in the company earlier this year.
According to a report by the Financial Times (via Reuters), Vivendi are cash-strapped and exploring options including accepting a possible tender by the publishing giant, whereby they would potentially be able to buy part of the holding through either using cash from their reserves, or by a debt offering.
As it stands, Vivendi needs support from Activision's independent directors before taking any dividend, but according to the report as of Tuesday this will no longer be the case, and the company would be able to force the payment of a special dividend without approval from the publisher's directors. Considering this, it would certainly be in Activision's interests to make a more beneficially agreeable deal before the goalposts move later this week.