Ubisoft is going to through a tough stretch right now on the corporate side of things.
First off, there’s Vivendi, who’s denying that they are trying to acquire the French publisher, while totally trying to acquire the French publisher. Now, Ubisoft has been hit by a fine by French stock market regulators for insider trading.
The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) accused Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat as well as four other executives for selling shares of their stock in October, 2013, just before the announced delay of Watch Dogs and The Crew. Due to those delays, Ubisoft’s stock took a 25% hit.
Ubisoft provided the following statement to Kotaku regarding the fines:
“Ubisoft acknowledges the AMF’s decision, but continues to assert that the people involved acted in good faith… We are convinced that these team members did not intentionally commit any acts contrary to market regulations.”
According to Kotaku, Ubisoft claims that the executives weren’t in a position to know about the the delays when they sold off their shares and will fight the AMF.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat – €700,000
Ubisoft VP of corporate affairs Francis Baillet – €200,000
Ubisoft worldwide studios exec director Christine Burgess – €200 000
Ubisoft Montreal VP of executive operations Olivier Paris – €100,000
Ubisoft brand development director Damien Moret – €15,000
I’m not at all familiar with Ubisoft’s corporate structure, but these are some high ranking people. It seems that these individuals should have known about these high profile delays.