An interesting corporate-side news about
Paradox that was announced a few months ago but of which flew under the radar is that the company is planning to go fully public by the end of the year.
Paradox has made an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of about 16 million shares and it is currently trading on the
Swedish stock exchange as can be referenced below:
Paradox Interactive will offer 15 per cent of its stock in an IPO on Sweden's Nasdaq First North Premier stock exchange. The first day of trading is expected to be May 31, 2016.
A total of 16,327,400 shares will be available, equivalent to 15 per cent of the company's stock. At present, CEO Fredrik Wester and the investment firm Spiltan are the two largest stockholders in Paradox, with a combined total of 76.2 per cent of shares. Following the IPO, they will hold 33.3 per cent and 30.5 per cent respectively.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
In addition to that, not long after the initial announcemnt,
Paradox further went on to state that
Chinese online giant
Tencent had subscribed to the IPO and taken up about 5 million shares or approximately one-third of the available amount allocated in the offering in total, as can be seen by this press statement:
Tencent Holdings Limited, which operates China’s largest social network and online games platform, has subscribed to and been allocated shares in the initial public offering of Paradox Interactive (”Paradox”) on Nasdaq First North Premier.
Tencent has been allocated 5.28 million shares at the offering price of SEK 33 per share, and hold 5% equity interest in Paradox Interactive post transaction. Fredrik Wester and Spiltan will continue to be key shareholders in Paradox with 33.3 % and 30.5 % shareholdings, respectively.
Source: Paradox Interactive
As mentioned by
Venturebeat,
Paradox broke its company record and
made $71 million from sales last year owing to the strong performances and continuing support of its titles. With more content being planned for its various franchises and with games such as the
Obsidion-developed RPG
Pillars of Eternity down the line,
Paradox is predicted to continue building on its current momentum.
Of course
Paradox's games have received much widespread attention from the mainstream gaming scene and gamers from the RTS (a la
C&C and
Starcraft) and 4X genres (such as
Civilisation and
Sins of a Solar Empire) have gone over to become fans of
Paradox's franchises from
Crusader Kings II to
Stellaris among others.
At the same time, whenever an IPO is announced it can be more or less confirmed that the developers have in mind something that they want to do with the added capital and this can be anything from the development of a new graphics engine or game to a PR media blitz to further raise the profile of the company or something else altogether.
What
Paradox has planned remains to be seen but we here at
Gamereplays.Org will continue to have a keen eye on their developments. Do share us your thoughts and opinion on
Paradox turning public and whether it is a positive or negative step for the company!