Vivendi will have sold all its remaining shares in Ubisoft by March 5th 2019.

The French media conglomerate previously seemed poised to take over the games publishing giant. But early this year, a partnership with Tencent let Ubisoft finally give Vivendi the boot.

Vivendi still has almost seven per cent in shares in Ubisoft, which it plans to sell off by early next year. Valued at around $580 million, these shares are currently tied up waiting for deals to complete with two “financial institutions".

0.9 per cent of remaining interest will be sold by October 1st, 2018, with the rest to be sold off on March 5th. Vivendi stated it would refrain from purchasing stock in Ubisoft for the next five years.

The news must come as a relief to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot (pictured, main, a happy looking man), who fought hard to defend the publisher from the buyout and retain the company’s independence.

The publisher announced plans to buy back - and cancel - four million shares from Vivendi earlier this year after it became clear that the would-be buyer wasn’t actually sure what to do with its stake in Ubisoft.