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Comment by saladuh | Hacker News Reader

Okay this is probably a stupid question, but how would Google go about doing this when Tim Sweeney is adamant that he owns over 50% of Epic's shares and Tencent only has a 'non-controlling' (as Sweeney has said in the past) 40%? As Epic is a private company, I don't understand how this is possible, but then again I'm not well versed in this stuff at all.

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> 'to either (a) buy Epic shares from Tencent to get more control over Epic', or '(b) join up with Tencent to buy 100% of Epic,'" the complaint said.

Unless it is accompanied by some nefarious actions to force them to sell, it’s should be “Google considered acquiring Epic”

>Okay this is probably a stupid question

It was the first question I had when I read the headline as well. The only possibility I could think of was the 60% of EPIC doesn't belong to Tim alone, but a holding companies that could have other investors. If Tencent were willing to sell Google could just buy another 10.1% controlling stake.

The problem with this theory is that Tencent is one of the largest gaming companies in the world. And "the" largest in Mobile gaming. The lawsuit EPIC had against Google directly benefits Tencent. So why would Tencent sell their shares to Google?

They'd do it with a big enough check.

Tim's on the low end of billionaires. Google can easily buy him out.

How would that qualify as a ‘hostile’ takeover?

it wouldn't. it's clear sweeney is just trying to garner attention and sympathy with claims like this (and very specifically, the terms he used).

This is emblematic and why I struggle with Sweeney.

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