Electronic Arts Offers $2 Billion for Take-Two

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:27 pm

Electronic Arts Offers $2 Billion for Take-Two

Electronic Arts, the video gaming giant, made an unsolicited $2 billion bid on Sunday for rival Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, a deal that would further a wave of consolidation in the rapidly growing industry.

Electronic Arts, which publishes hit games like the Madden N.F.L. and Need for Speed series, offered to pay $26 a share for Take-Two, a 50 percent premium over its share price of $17.36 on Friday. The offer was made publicly after a series of private offers to Take-Two were rejected by its board.

Electronic Arts approached Take Two with a $26-a-share offer on Feb. 19, up from $25 share it initially offered on Feb. 15.

The timing of the bid appears to be an attempt to acquire Take-Two before it releases what is widely expected to be the top-selling game of 2008, the fourth installment of the crime thriller Grand Theft Auto. The Grand Theft Auto franchise, Take-Two’s crown jewel, has sold more than 60 million copies since Grand Theft Auto III took the game industry by storm in 2001.

LINK to full NYT article

Phibs · Post by **Phibs** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:27 pm

Let's hope they don't obtain them... EA has a bad habit of uhm.. changing things they buy for the worse

zaxrex · Post by **zaxrex** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:25 am

The guys that did the GTAs sorta tried living their game's lifestyles and got caught. Not gonna be much creativity from the original people, and the new ones have such claps put on them that I don't think this last installment will run with the previous versions. Don't get me wrong, it will sell, and when EA doubles my investment... I'm OK with that.

Did I mention that I don't play video games?