King Digital, the makers of Candy Crush, are to be bought by Activision for $5.9 billion

Activision Blizzard, creators of the Call of Duty franchise, have announced that they are to buy King Digital, the European company behind the Candy Crush games, with both companies approving the transaction.

King Digital are a public company, having listed on the NYSE last year priced at $22.50 per share, at the time valuing the company at $7 billion.

Activision will pay $18 a share in cash, valuing them lower than the original share price when they first listed but still 16% more than their closing price of $15.54 yesterday, meaning this is still a sizeable European exit.

King will continue to be run independently and CEO Riccardo Zacconi will stay on, at least until the deal is completed in early 2016.

Activision's press release can be read in full here.

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