Several reports have surfaced that Tencent is set to buy Supercell at as much as $9 billion valuation. The Wall Street Journal first broke the story, announcing that Tencent is in talks with Softbank Group to purchase their share of Supercell. The deal is said to potentially include other buyers such as Hillhouse Capital Group.
This move does not come as a surprise from Softbank as it has recently been under stress to clear some of its debt and thus they have already said that they would also sell their stake in Alibaba.
Should the deal come through, it would make Tencent one of the most prominent players in the global PC and mobile gaming market. They already own the majority stake of Riot Games, which are behind League of Legends. The company started out as a messenger product and then later expanded their business into many verticals. Today, they more of an investment holding company with subsidiaries in many businesses.
We have reached out to both Supercell and Tencent for further comments and will update the story as it develops.
