Sammy Takes Aim at Sega

A possible buyout of Sega looming as Sammy plans to purchase a huge chunk of Sega

Sammy has announced that it plans to buy 22.4 percent of Sega shares, revealing that a buyout may be on the horizon. Although Sammy is most known for its Pachinko game machines in Japan, having Sega as a subsidiary would enable the company to get a firm foothold in the video games industry. The 45.33 billion Yen ($422 million) purchase would make Sammy Sega's largest shareholder.

The move to purchase shares follows a public fiasco where Sega refused to merge with Sammy, citing that they "lacked synergies." This infuriated Sammy, leading to the resignations of Sega President Hideki Sato and COO Tesu Kamaya. In spite of Sega's lack of interest toward a merger, Sammy has continued to move towards acquiring one of the most well known video game publishers.

"In the future, we may take an additional stake in Sega," said Sammy president and CEO Hajime Satomi at a press briefing on the acquisition. "We won't rule out the possibility of making [Sega] a subsidiary." Satomi is expected to take a seat on the Sega board at the earliest opportunity.

Despite their rocky past, according to Satomi, the talks with Sega's senior management were "positive," saying that he was "confident that we will be able to cooperate in a friendly manner." Sega also released a statement stating that the two companies had agreed to work together for the benefit of Sega's future business development.

Regardless of whether or not Sammy completely buys out Sega, the Sega name would likely live on for brand name recognition, especially with it's popular line up of arcade games like Virtua Striker in Japan.

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