Sega: Sega to acquire Angry Birds maker Rovio for $776 million – Times of India

Japanese gaming giant Sega has announced that it has made a tender offer for the maker of the Finland-based Rovio Entertainment, the company that developed the Angry Birds puzzle game.
“Through the tender offer, Sega aims to acquire the entirety of Rovio’s outstanding shares and options at EUR 9.25 per share and EUR 1.48 per option, or EUR 706 million in total. The Acquisition is a friendly takeover, as Rovio’s board of directors has agreed to, and has expressed support towards the tender offer,” the company said in a statement.
Why Sega is acquiring Rovia
Sega said that it aims to accelerate its growth in the global gaming market and increase its corporate value by generating synergies between Sega’s existing businesses and Rovio’s strengths.

“Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been SEGA’s long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field,” said Sega Sammy’s Group CEO, Haruki Satomi, in a statement.
Tokyo-based Sega was founded in 1960 and is best-known for its Sonic the Hedgehog and Total War franchises, as well as consoles including the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.
Rovio is a global mobile-first, games company that creates, develops and publishes mobile games that have been downloaded over 5 billion times. The company is best known for the Angry Birds game franchise, which started as a popular mobile game in 2009.
Since then, it has evolved from games to various entertainment, anime, and consumer products – starting from pencil boxes to board games – through brand licensing.

“Red [in Angry Birds] and Sonic the Hedgehog: two globally recognised and iconic characters made by two remarkably complementary companies, with a worldwide reach that spans mobile, PC/console, and beyond. Combining the strengths of Rovio and SEGA presents an incredibly exciting future,” said Rovio CEO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand.
Angry Birds game
The goal of the first Angry Birds game was to use a slingshot and launch a bird in an attempt to destroy a drift of pigs on the other side of the screen. While the pigs were protected by different materials like wood, glass and stone, birds had special powers, such as explosion. Angry Birds also became the first-ever mobile game to achieve one billion downloads.