Activision Blizzard for sale?

LOS ANGELES--The industry's largest third-party publisher might be for sale. According to a Bloomberg report, senior executives of Activision Blizzard parent Vivendi are meeting later this month to determine whether they want to sell the telecom giant's majority stake in the game developer.

Citing "people with knowledge of the matter," Bloomberg reports that the Vivendi executive meeting is scheduled for June 22, with the possibility of an Activision Blizzard sale being the main point of discussion. The telecom company has reportedly been meeting with investors to discuss a variety of possible reorganizations recently, including spinning off the cable television division Canal Plus.

In late 2007, Vivendi announced an $18.9 billion merger between its own games group--which included Blizzard and its World of Warcraft business--and Activision, which at the time was riding high on the success of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty.