IN BRIEF

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

Vivendi to take control of video game maker

Vivendi SA said Sunday that it plans to acquire a controlling stake in Activision Inc. and combine the video game publisher with Vivendi Games in a deal the companies valued at $18.9 billion.

The combination of Santa Monica-based Activision, whose titles include “Guitar Hero,” “Call of Duty” and the “Tony Hawk” series, and Vivendi Games, which publishes “Crash Bandicoot” and owns the online role-playing franchise “World of Warcraft,” would create the world’s largest pure-play online and console game publisher, the companies said.

Under the agreement, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share, the companies said in a statement.

Vivendi, based in Paris, France, will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share, giving Vivendi a 52 percent stake in the new company to be called Activision Blizzard.

After the transaction closes, expected in the first half of 2008, Activision Blizzard will launch a $4 billion all-cash tender offer to purchase up to 146.5 million Activision Blizzard common shares at $27.50 each. Vivendi also has agreed to acquire an additional $700 million of newly issued Activision shares, giving Vivendi about a 68 percent stake in Activision Blizzard if the offer is tender offer is fully subscribed.

SAN FRANCISCO

Online journal pioneers ending relationship

Blogging pioneer Six Apart is breaking apart from LiveJournal, another trailblazer that helped bring online journals to the masses.

The nearly three-year marriage is dissolving with Six Apart’s sale of LiveJournal to Russia-based SUP in a deal expected to be announced today. The financial terms aren’t being disclosed.

SUP, which has already been running LiveJournal in Russia as part of a licensing agreement, plans to set up a new company in San Francisco to steer LiveJournal’s global growth.

Since SUP took over LiveJournal’s licensing rights in Russia, the number of registered accounts in that country have nearly doubled to 1.35 million registered accounts. About 523,000 Russian accounts are considered to be active bloggers, representing nearly a third of LiveJournal’s roughly 1.7 million active users.

About nine Six Apart employees who worked on LiveJournal will move to the newly formed company. Six Apart will be left with about 150 workers worldwide.

Despite LiveJournal’s robust growth in Russia during the past year, the United States remains its largest market.

But LiveJournal has been facing a stiffer challenge in the United States as more of its core audience — teens and adults in their early 20s — flocked to hugely popular Internet hangouts like MySpace.com and Facebook.com to express themselves.