Ubisoft has announced it has set up a program for its employees that allows them to purchase discounted shares of the company. The game developer hopes that by allowing employees to purchase shares they will be more committed to the company's future results and developments.

The announcement of the program, which Ubisoft calls MMO 2016, comes at an interesting time. After the company's E3 2016 press conference Vivendi, one of Ubisoft's current shareholders, has purchased additional shares. This has resulted in Vivendi currently owning roughly 20,1% of Ubisoft shares.

By French law a shareholder is legally obligated to issue a takeover bid once it has acquired over 30% of another company's shares. In 2014 French takeover rules have been significantly altered by the law known as the "Loi Florange". It introduced additional rules to which any shareholder wishing to issue a takeover bid must adhere to, making hostile takeover bids less likely to occur.

The introduction of Ubisoft's MMO program seems to be an attempt of the game developer to stop Vivendi from acquiring even more shares to get above the 30% threshold. Employees interested in purchasing Ubisoft shares can get a 15% discount. The shares will stay in their possession for atleast 5 years, effectively preventing reselling.

Vivendi has already announced it is seeking to acquire additional Ubisoft shares. Vivendi has previously owned shares of Blizzard and Activision Blizzard and has recently acquired a controlling share in Gameloft, a French game developer located in Paris.