Activision Blizzard Investor Relations Material

Activision Blizzard is the owner of some of the most popular gaming franchises in the world, including World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. They are truly a giant in the entertainment industry with teams like King Digital Entertainment and independent studios, including Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch.

The original Activision company was founded in 1979 and acted as a third-party developer for games on the Atari Video Computer system. After a few troubled years, investors led by Bobby Kotick bought the company. After an array of restructuring and acquisitions, the Activision Blizzard we know today was born in 2008 through a merger with Vivendi Games. In January 2022, Microsoft announced their intentions to buy Activision for $95 per share, which was later finalized in 2023. 

This did not fly under the radar of legendary Warren Buffet and his Berkshire Hathaway. In fact, Berkshire first purchased about $1 billion worth of Activision Blizzard stock in the fourth quarter of 2021, before Microsoft announced its plans to buy Activision, betting on the company being undervalued. Berkshire owned about 9 percent of Activision shares 2022, a position worth $5.4 billion, amounting to about 1.5 percent of the total Berkshire portfolio.