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INDUSTRY Finland

Best Hay Day ever for Supercell: 51% stake sold for €1.1 billion

- Japan’s GungHo Online Entertainment - which developed Ragnarock Online and Puzzle & Dragons – invests in the Finnish mobile game studio valued at €2.2 billion

Best Hay Day ever for Supercell: 51% stake sold for €1.1 billion

Lucky in games? Finnish mobile game studio Supercell seems to have hit the jackpot, as it sold a 51% stake of the company to SoftBank, owner of Japan’s GungHo Online Entertainment, for €1.1 billion. GungHo has launched such gaming experiences as Ragnarock Online and Puzzle & Dragons.

According to Norway’s Pressfire, the Finnish company – which has developed such mobile games as Clash of the Clans and Hay Day (photo - both free) – was valued at €2.2 million, based on a daily turnover of €10.3 million.

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In his internet blog Supercell president Ilkka Paanen explained that the move will accelerate the studio towards being the first truly global games company, with a strong foothold in both the West and the East, including Japan, Korea and China.

“SoftBank is all about the long term. When I first met the founder, Masayoshi Son, he told me he had a 300-year vision, and I thought he was joking until the next day, when he ran me through it. Supercell is only three years old, so we have a long way to go.”

Paanen emphasized that in spite of a majority investor, Supercell will continue to operate independently and to be incorporated in Finland: the management team remains in Finland and San Francisco, and the company will pay taxes in Finland.

“In our efforts to become the No 1 mobile Internet company, we scouted the globe for interesting opportunities, and some of the most exciting and innovating companies are in Finland. Supercell is one of them,” Son observed.

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