Rumor: Take-Two buyout news coming Monday
by Xav de Matos 
{ May 15th 2008 at 10:00AM }
Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian issued a note on EA's financial statement last night claiming new information regarding the buyout of Take-Two Interactive would be forthcoming Monday. Sebastian, a known analyst with his ear to the "gaming industry grindstone," has been at the forefront of comments regarding a possible EA buyout since the first offer was made in April.
"Expect [an] update on TTWO bid by Monday morning," Sebastian noted. "We continue to believe that the current offer of $25.74 per share would be accretive to earnings for Electronic Arts, as well as fill several meaningful product gaps."
Last month EA extended its tender offer deadline from April 30 to May 16. The offer, if approved, would see Electronic Arts purchase Take-Two Interactive, publishers of the critical and commercial blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV, for $2 billion. Expect the internet to burst into flames Monday if Sebastian's claim comes to fruition.
[via Videogaming247]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dick @ May 15th 2008 10:11AM
Can someone PLEEEEEASE Stop EA from doing this?
Shareholders? Board Members?
For the love of all that's holy, we need less consolidation and more diversification. Fascism is the streamlining we're seeing here. Capitalism is based upon (and thrives with) competition.
Stop the NazEA party!
Edd @ May 15th 2008 10:14AM
Why the govt. hasn't stepped in is amazing considering if this happens EA would have a monopoly over most sports games. EA though will not see any of my money, I will no longer buy anything that has EA on it, and I'm going to tell all my friends to do the same. Those GREEDY bastards ain't seeing a dime out this pocket.
Kizzle @ May 15th 2008 10:22AM
The government hasn't stepped in because they are not doing anything illegal.
Hey, better EA than Activision.
adam @ May 15th 2008 10:23AM
fuck em i hope ea gets em.they are claiming the next gta will be sony exclusive if ea gets em sony fans are gonna get shit.
im tired of gta games anyway.
mcwattersm @ May 15th 2008 12:03PM
I am not sure where you read this but your terribly wrong.
C. T. @ May 15th 2008 10:23AM
Serious question: In addition to all the reasons we know this to be terrible, why would Take Two agree to sell for $25.74/share when it's currently openly trading at $27+?
DjDATZ @ May 15th 2008 10:52AM
If that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised if Take-Two rejected the offer. No one wants less money for the shares they own. If EA offered $27.50, that would be a different story, but I think that would be way too much for EA.
Mark @ May 15th 2008 12:28PM
I think this analyst is just trying to claim that's the price to back up his "Take Two made a mistake and will NEVER see a better offer" statement he made a month ago. It seems now that any offer would have to be better than they were made initially.
Mark @ May 15th 2008 12:29PM
whoops sorry. wrong analyst
DRock067 @ May 15th 2008 10:31AM
the question is which stock do you buy? Take-Two or EA?
miqspot @ May 15th 2008 10:38AM
at this point you don't buy either. You've missed the boat on this one. What you can do is start picking out other publicly traded developers/publishers and invest in them. Seeing as how the industry continues to consolidate I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last pick up.....
Mikemyerz666 @ May 15th 2008 10:39AM
i would say Take Two, support them while EA isn't attached while you can!
DBoyFlex @ May 15th 2008 10:27AM
If this happens, I hope it is just to slap their name on GTA games. As long as they don't touch Rockstar and GTA, fine. Maybe EA will give them more money to do more with the game and make the games better... Actually, I am just trying to be optimistic.
DjDATZ @ May 15th 2008 10:49AM
Oh god. PLEASE NO.
ZEBRA NINER @ May 15th 2008 10:50AM
Nice. It's about time a company stepped in and took the reins on a dying company. I mean, what was the last thing Rockstar even came out with? Good news here. ;)
Multi-platform releases, w00t!
DaffyDuck @ May 15th 2008 11:06AM
"You wanted capitalism? You got capitalism. Now enjoy what you asked for." (c) Vladivostok FM
joey @ May 15th 2008 12:00PM
The DLC better don't cost more than 15 bucks.
mcwattersm @ May 15th 2008 12:04PM
Guys, go out and buy all the take two shares you can afford and don't let EA buy them from you.
Bushman311 @ May 15th 2008 12:35PM
A lot of you need to take an intro Finance class...
xenocidic @ May 15th 2008 12:49PM
the news: we failed
AxFactor @ May 15th 2008 5:24PM
Really I'd be more sad to see the 2K series go. I mean EA Sports are crap, hands down. NBA Live, I can't even think of an analogy for that in comparison to NBA 2K really.
It would be a sad day to see them go as I've only bought 2K sports games since the Dreamcast was out. My only hope if this did go through, was if EA scraped their existing sports studios and handed it all over to Visual Concepts, and merge the Tiburon Studio with VC as well to get some actual gameplay in there.