Activision Blizzard is buying Candy Crush maker King for $5.9 billion

Activision Blizzard is purchasing King Digital, the makers of popular game Candy Crush, for a total equity value of $5.9 billion, according to Business Wire.

The purchase will be made by ABS Partners C.V., a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, for the outstanding shares of King at a price of $18 per share.

The $18 per share price is a $20% premium over King's October 30th enterprise value.

While the acquisition still has to be approved King's shareholders and cleared by relevant antitrust authorities, the sale was unanimously approved by the boards of both Activision and King. It is expected that the sale will completed by Spring 2016.

With the acquisition, Activision Blizzard will have added two of the top five highest grossing US mobile games to its already formidable war chest of intellectual properties, including Call of Duty, World of WarCraft, StarCraft, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Destiny and others.

Here's the statement from Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard:

"The combined revenues and profits solidify our position as the largest, most profitable standalone company in interactive entertainment. With a combined global network of more than half a billion monthly active users, our potential to reach audiences around the world on the device of their choosing enables us to deliver great games to even bigger audiences than ever before."