Rovio Entertainment confirms that the Finnish studio behind the Angry Birds franchise is in talks with Sega about a possible acquisition by the Japanese game company. The Wall Street Journal revealed earlier this week that the deal may be worth $1 billion.
Rovio states in a statement that there is “no certainty when the potential takeover bid will take place and whether this will happen at all’. The Wall Street Journal said previously that the deal between Rovio Entertainment and Sega Sammy Holdings could be completed early next week, according to insiders. A $1 billion takeover bid is said to be on the table. Both Rovio and Sega have not released any concrete information about the possible acquisition and say they will release more information in due course.
In February, Rovio announced that it was starting a strategic investigation and non-binding talks about a potential takeover bid for shares of the Angry Birds maker. Previously, Rovio also had takeover talks with the Israeli Playtika, with a bid was made for $738 million. In 2017, the Chinese tech company Tencent is reportedly making another $3 billion acquisition offer for Rovio.
The original Angry Birds game was released in 2009, after which the popularity of the franchise dwindled around 2014. Over the years, several spin-offs of the mobile game appeared, as well as an Angry Birds 2. A film adaptation followed in 2016, which became a great success in terms of ticket sales. The second adaptation from 2019 did not get the same success. Recently Rovio removed the original Angry Birds game the Google Play Store. The iOS version was renamed to Red’s First Flight, reportedly to give other Angry Birds games a better chance.
