KnackChap Posted February 24, 2008 Report Share Posted February 24, 2008 REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”) (NASDAQ: ERTS - News) today announced that it has proposed to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (“Take-Two”) (NASDAQ: TTWO - News) in an all-cash merger valued at approximately $2.0 billion. EA’s proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two’s closing stock price on Feb. 15th, the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two, and a 63 percent premium over Take-Two’s 30-day trailing average price over the thirty trading days ending on that date. EA’s proposal was contained in a letter sent on Feb. 19th by EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello to Strauss Zelnick, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Take-Two. The Take-Two Board’s subsequent rejection of the EA proposal led to EA’s decision to release the letter and bring its proposal to the attention of all Take-Two shareholders. Mr. Riccitiello said today: “Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two’s game designers would also benefit from EA’s financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities.” The EA letter warned that further Take-Two delay in accepting EA’s proposal could prevent Take-Two’s shareholders and other constituents from realizing its benefits. “There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today,” Mr. Riccitiello wrote. The letter added that timely completion of the proposed transaction would allow EA’s strong publishing and distribution network to positively impact the ongoing post-launch sales of GTA IV and support the new Take-Two titles scheduled for launch later in the year and during the holiday selling season. As noted in EA’s Feb. 19th letter, EA’s proposal is not conditioned on any financing requirement. It is, however, subject to certain customary conditions as set forth in the letter. EA’s $26 per share proposal is based on the current equity capitalization of Take-Two. Although EA indicated in the letter that its proposal was subject to negotiations commencing by Feb. 22nd, EA intends to keep its proposal open for the present to give Take-Two’s shareholders and Board of Directors further time to consider it. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080224/20080224005062.html?.v=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted February 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2008 Holy sh*t but he take2 agree then, 1) will ea eliminate the yearly sports competition or will they release madden and nfk 2k both(same with other franchisees). 2) bioshock for ps3wii 3)how will they manage midnight club and nfs?? Midnight speed: underground club 4)what happens to la noire and new rockstar ip(both ps3 exclusive) 5)what happens to gta4 exclusive dlc 6) will rockstar leave once their contract expires(who keeps the ip) 7)yearly top spin games? 8) who will activision buy now, midway, ubisoft etc? And finally is ea really thinking of making a console if yes, god bless up all and i think ill quit gaming soon unless ea buys sega and their console is named dreamcast 2 with 9/9/09 launch I WANT TO BELIEVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaPwN Posted February 24, 2008 Report Share Posted February 24, 2008 Heres the official statement. http://www.eatake2.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackhammer06 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Holy sh*t but he take2 agree then,8) who will activision buy now, midway, ubisoft etc? Activision can't buy UBISOFT,EA already owns a part of Ubisoft shares already(20% to be precise)....Unless EA deceides to see them to Activision,it will almost be impossible to acquire Ubisoft......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 take 2 rejects Take-Two Interactive has issued a statement revealing why the takeover bid was rejected: “After careful evaluation, the Board has determined that EA's proposal substantially undervalues Take-Two's robust and enviable stable of game franchises, exceptional creative talent and strong consumer loyalty. We believe EA's unsolicited offer is highly opportunistic and is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV…” Strauss Zelnick, Executive Chairman of the Board at Take-Two, elaborated: “Electronic Arts' proposal provides insufficient value to our shareholders and comes at absolutely the wrong time… the Board has determined that the only prudent and responsible course for our Company and its stockholders is to defer these discussions until immediately after Grand Theft Auto IV is released. Therefore, we offered to initiate discussions with EA on April 30th, 2008 (the day after Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release). We believe this offer demonstrated our commitment to pursuing all avenues to maximize stockholder value, while we believe that EA's refusal to entertain this path is evidence of their desire to acquire Take-Two at a significant discount, whereas we believe this value rightly belongs to our stockholders.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjunsood2003 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 so much happens in so less time...even if the deal wudv gone thru it wudnt hav had ne effect on the gta dlc, im sure they had considered all possibilities before getting tht exclusive dlc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I dont know which is worse; that both EA and Take 2 determine all their actions based on how fat the shareholder's pockets become, or the fact that ~ $2 Billion apperantly wasn't enough for them. Whichever side wins the common gamer looses - its just a question of how much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosextillim18 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 EA sucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 ^^ hehe i was begining to get worried @jack: EA owns 12% of Ubi not 20% peace its 22% i think and take has not outright rejected it they are sayng they'll talk after april 30th ea didnt make a bad deal at all, they overvalued each take 2 share by round 60% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 EA is being opportunistic about the fall in the US and global stock markets. Same with many deals taking place in India. Luckily for T2, they are not in a desperate situation and in need of capital infusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyofx Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Where the heck are the competition watchdogs? It's not the buyout that worries me, but the cartelisation (is that even a word?) of the interactive entertainment market. The FTC should have a field day with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DIRECTOR Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 thank f**king god T2 didn't sell out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 but what if they continue with both the ea sports and 2k label madden and nfl 2k both avb each year or maybe if its madden one year and 2k next year and so on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyofx Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Theres nothing wrong with EA Sports. Yes, they've let the Live franchise slide but NHL, FIFA and Tiger Woods are excellent games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted February 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 Has EA already bought Take-Two? Massive spike in share trades suggests hostile takeover underway! Yesterday over 37 million shares of Take-Two changed hands, well over the average of around 1.8 million shares a day. At the current share price, that means over US$800 million in stock was traded yesterday, or over 40% of the value of the entire company. EA’s bid to take control could already be underway! It’s also possible that this flurry of trading could simply be the activity of speculative investors. Either way, the price of Take-Two shares is surging, and will undoubtedly climb higher when GTA IV goes on sale on April 29. If the EA board really wants to absorb the house of Grand Theft Auto, they’d better be quick! CEO John Riccitiello has already threatened a hostile takeover – for further reading, see our news article EA desperate to buy Take Two. The repocussions of this takeover could be quite extensive. We recently wrote an article that examined the best game engines of the next-gen and if this EA deal goes through, the company will own many of them. Look for yourself! http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/NEWS/NEW...7e-6db11a5e031c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 EA-Take2 Update: EA Wants M-Rated Content, Wouldn’t Change ‘BioShock’ Or ‘GTA’ From MTV _____________________________________________________________________________ In a conference call to further detail plans to purchase Take-Two Interactive, EA CEO John Riccitiello offered some insight about his plans for the combined company, if the deal went through. First of note for gamers is that Riccitiello said “I wouldn’t change a line of code in ‘BioShock‘ nor would I in ‘GTA‘ or ‘Max Payne‘… what we would do is sell more of it.” He said EA’s distribution network could get those games in places Take-Two doesn’t reach. He also said the purchase was enticing for EA because his current company is “underrepresented in M-rated content.” Getting the creators of “GTA,” he noted, would suddenly give EA the top M-rated content in the world. Riccitiello also name-checked Sid Meier of Firaxis and Greg Thomas of 2K Sports studio Visual Concepts and as valued members of Take-Two. Regarding the potential combination of EA and Take-Two’s sports business, Riccitiello said that he thought highly of Thomas but that “in terms of the sports business, from any sort of organizational perspective, we think it is way too early to comment.” He also shot down the idea that the purchase would leave EA without competition in sports, naming “Wii Sports” and “Hot Shots Golf” among the company’s apparent rivals. The lion’s share of Riccitiello’s praise during the call was for the top men at Rockstar Games, whose distinct publishing labels were cited as an inspiration for EA’s current structural division. Financial analysts on the call tried to get Riccitiello to address their feelings that it would be expensive to bring Rockstar Games’ management into the EA fold, but the EA CEO said the conference call wasn’t the proper forum to discuss how EA could pull that off. Riccitiello did reveal that EA’s interest in Take-Two goes back quite a bit. He said that his first inquiry into Take-Two began last summer and noted that he put the brakes on an attempt by EA to buy Take-Two when he took his CEO spot at EA last April. “At the 11th hour I recommend the board not to pursue it,” he said. He felt his own company needed to shift its own structure into its current four-division set-up before taking on Take-Two. Riccitiello and CFO Warren Jenson also stated on the call that they were surprised at Take-Two’s rejection of EA’s offer. “It is our objective to make this a friendly deal,” Jenson said. They said they expected someone to buy Take-Two, whether it’s EA or not. (On a side note, tomorrow will mark one year since Riccitiello was announced as the next CEO of EA, though he didn’t assume the position until April. The executive has written quite a first year for himself at the publishing giant. ) ______________________________________________________________________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hahaman Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 why dont ubisoft or microsoft or sony or sega or nintendo buy them instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0 Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 :cry5: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizoidFreud Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 fack!! :cry5: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted March 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2008 Ea buys take2 Ea buys sega Ea plans to release console Ea launches dreamcast 2 9/9/09 BELIEVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpeg.0cdff05eb48d7a556a500c7e008f7499.jpeg)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.