EA Offers $25, No, $26 A Share for Take-Two
Take-Two shoots down offer, tells EA come back after GTA IV release
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Over the weekend Electronic Arts made an unsolicited proposal to Take-Two Interactive offering $25 cash per share to buyout the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, All Pro Football and Bully to name a few. EA gave the company until Tuesday to respond but the deal was quickly rejected and then revised to $26 per share bringing the total offered amount to just under $2 billion.
Take-Two quickly rejected this offer as well claiming it to be “opportunistic and [EA] is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV.” The firm believes that EA has undervalued the property substantially but they will entertain negotiations after Grand Theft Auto IV has been released, currently scheduled for late April. Take-Two's stock continues to rise on the news, hovering at $25.90 as of press time, up from Friday's close of $17.36.
"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," commented Strauss Zelnick, the executive chairman of Take-Two.
The move is almost certainly a response to the shocking announcement of the Activision-Vivendi Games merger made almost three months ago. Should that merger go through, we will see Activision renamed to Activision-Blizzard.
Take-Two quickly rejected this offer as well claiming it to be “opportunistic and [EA] is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV.” The firm believes that EA has undervalued the property substantially but they will entertain negotiations after Grand Theft Auto IV has been released, currently scheduled for late April. Take-Two's stock continues to rise on the news, hovering at $25.90 as of press time, up from Friday's close of $17.36.
"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," commented Strauss Zelnick, the executive chairman of Take-Two.
The move is almost certainly a response to the shocking announcement of the Activision-Vivendi Games merger made almost three months ago. Should that merger go through, we will see Activision renamed to Activision-Blizzard.