Daily Management Review

Chinese investor wants to buy developer of Clash of Clans


05/26/2016


The success of Finnish Supercell, responsible for development of such well-known mobile games as Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, is haunted by investors worldwide. Now, Chinese Tencent wants to buy a controlling stake in Supercell out from the current owner - Japanese SoftBank.



clash of clans
clash of clans
An anonymous source said to WSJ that Tencent senior managers have already visited Helsinki to persuade Supercell founders support the deal. They have the veto right, and so far, they have not supported the transfer of control from SoftBank to other companies.

According to insiders, the negotiations are still at an early stage, and nothing is known about presence of other potential buyers at the moment. Recall that this is not the first attempt of Chinese companies to buy a stake in Supercell. Earlier, there was Giant Interactive Group gaming company, together with the holding company Alibaba Group, but the parties could not agree on price. 

At one time, in a relatively distant 2013, SoftBank purchased 51% in Supercell for $ 1.53 billion, and increased its stake to 73% in 2015. The amount of the second deal remains a secret. According to WSJ estimates, the Finnish developer is estimated at $ 5.25 billion in total now.

Tencent owns Riot Games, developer of popular MOBA-game League of Legends. The holding owns shares in Activision Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Diablo) and Epic Games (Unreal Tournament, Bulletstorm). In addition, Tencent is a publisher of mobile games Candy Crush Saga in China.

Meanwhile, the new mobile game Clash Royale brought about $ 110 million in March - the first month since launch. This fact only fuels interest in Supercell, which earned $ 80 million over the period. The rest of the revenue has been distributed among app stores. As the portal Newzoo notes, most of the purchases fell on iOS-devices.

Many feared that release of Clash Royale would decrease revenues the developer’s flagship game - Clash of Clans. However, this did not happen, and the new project’s launch had practically no effect on the market’s veteran. Proceeds from the mini-transactions in Clash of Clans in March slipped to 10%.

In March this year, Supercell also revealed financial results for 2015 based on data from three of its games: Clash of Clans, Boom Beach and Hay Day. With their help, the studio earned $ 964 million profit for the year (before taxes, depreciation and amortization).

Supercell is a Finnish company founded in 2010. It is engaged in development of games for mobile platforms. The company employs 85 people. It is headed by Ilkka Paananen, who previously held the post of President of Digital Chocolate. Most of Supercell’s funds are still brought by Clash of Clans game released in August 2012, but exact figures on income have not been disclosed yet. In 2015, the game was on the top lines of the most profitable applications rating. According to VentureBeat’s assumption, Clash of Clans can be considered one of the most successful mobile games in the world.

source: wsj.com