EA stake in Ubisoft increases

In 2004, Electronic Arts bought nearly 20 percent of the voting shares of competing publisher Ubisoft. The move gave EA a significant say in how the company would be run, with what was at the time the largest block of voting shares in Ubisoft owned by anyone save the company's founders, the Guillemot family, which controlled 22.8 percent of the publisher.

Now the company has an even larger stake in its rival, as revealed in a filing today with the French stock market regulators Autorité Des Marchés Financiers (AMF). The report states that as of August 3, EA has acquired a total of nearly 7 million shares of Ubisoft stock, representing 24.86 percent of the stockholder voting rights in the publisher.

Representatives with both companies confirmed for GameSpot that EA hasn't actually purchased any more of the company, but its voting rights increased due to a company clause that rewards investors who hold onto the stock for more than two years. The Ubisoft representative also confirmed that EA holds a larger chunk of the voting rights than the company's own founders now, as Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and his relatives control 16.8 percent of the voting rights.

In the filing, EA said it did not intend to nominate its own candidates to Ubisoft's board of directors, but reserved the right to, should Ubisoft's position change significantly.