Fans of publisher Square Enix were likely in shock this morning when a report from Bloomberg Japan suggested that the company was courting several buyers for a potential acquisition. It simply didn't make sense as Square Enix has been doing well in recent years, especially with last year's release of Final Fantasy VII: Remake. To put everyone at ease, the house of Cloud made an official statement on the matter and directly debunked the rumor.
"Bloomberg has reported today that there is interest from several buyers to acquire Square Enix. However, this report is not based on any announcement by SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO. LTD," reads the statement. "We do not consider selling off the company or any part of its business, nor have we received any offer from any third party to acquire the company or any part of its business."
While companies would normally not even respond to such claims, the story in Bloomberg had started to directly affect Square Enix's stocks. As reported by Dr. Serkan Toto (CEO of industry consultancy firm Kantan Games Inc.), the price of stocks had risen to +13.80% by lunchtime. That's a tremendous gain in a single day for any company.
What all of this means is that Square Enix is doing perfectly fine. The announcement wasn't made to assuage potential backlash from a sale, but to regulate the stock fluctuation. I don't really know a lot about corporate stocks, but there is nothing fishy going on here. It's just business as usual after an errant report stirred things up.
Source: Square Enix, Twitter