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EA tries to buy Take-Two

Published on 25th February 2008 by Joe Martin

EA has unsuccessfully tried to buy out Take-Two for $2 BILLION DOLLARS! MWHAHAHA!

Early last week Electronic Arts made an offer to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software at $26 per market share, coming to around $2 Billion. Take-Two has reviewed the offer and issued a refusal.

The offer was apparently made at the start of last week, with Take-Two's executive chairman Straus Zelnick refusing the offer on Tuesday. In an attempt to put more pressure on Take-Two, EA CEO John Riccitello took the deal public and hoped that Take-Two shareholders would come to his way of thinking according to Joystiq.

EA decided to leave the offer on the table for a little longer - though Take-Two promptly refused the offer for a second time.

Take-Two issued a public statement on Sunday in which the company claimed that they turned down the offer because it was "inadequate in multiple respects and not in the best interests of Take-Two's stockholders."

A funny side note on the story is the motive behind the proposal and refusal; EA originally cited the impending release of Grand Theft Auto IV as a reason for being interested and said that they would be very willing to help release the product.

Take-Two on the other hand used the game as the major reason to refuse the offer, pointing out that the release will massively increase the worth of the company.

Will EA leave it at that, or will the company devouring behemoth continue to nibble away at the BioShock publisher? Let us know in the forums.

21 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

naokaji 25th February 2008, 10:24

good that take two said no, someone has to stop ea (or atleast slow them down).

LeMaltor 25th February 2008, 10:34

Imagine every game made being released by EA O_O

will. 25th February 2008, 10:41

GTA would have had to say goodbye to it's.... everything that made it funny.

rjkoneill 25th February 2008, 10:43

dr evil pic and caption is genius

Veles 25th February 2008, 11:47

I'm glad they refused, EA are just swallowing everyone up.

p3n 25th February 2008, 12:14

Offer only stands shoul they get to reap the rewards of GTA... EA you are all devouring scumbags!

Phil Rhodes 25th February 2008, 12:27

Brings ineluctibly to mind the ITC ad with the very polite cops-n-robbers scene. "Excuse me, Mr. Policeman. These cuffs really chafe, you know."

Grand Theft Auto VI: an Electronic Arts release...

Cabe 25th February 2008, 12:28

How about no, OK Probst?

In researching the current head of EA for the above paraphrase, I discovered this nugget of info from the ever accurate Wikipedia

Quote:

Probst considered himself a man of principle and has refused to follow the M-rated example set by Take Two Interactive, whose violent Grand Theft Auto franchise became the dominant brand in many key demographics from 2000 through 2003.[citation needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Arts#EA_under_Probst

cyrilthefish 25th February 2008, 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjkoneill
dr evil pic and caption is genius

I think a picture of the Borg would work equally well

Doyleyboy 25th February 2008, 12:57

oh god i hope they give up now. EA: take 2 = not yours!

speedfreek 25th February 2008, 14:16

EA it far too big already.

Bluephoenix 25th February 2008, 15:17

I think the idea of EA releasing all games is the only way I would quit gaming entirely.

koola 25th February 2008, 16:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by speedfreek
EA it far too big already.

Not to mention no innovation. Their idea of innovation is to buy up another games studio

DXR_13KE 25th February 2008, 20:22

wow... they would remove everything great about the game..... screw them!

E.E.L. Ambiense 25th February 2008, 20:47

LOL. To throw a little humor into it...

...if EA bought them, all wares coming out would be bloated and buggy, simply because it has an 'EA' logo on it.

samkiller42 25th February 2008, 23:58

And to think, i'm looking to get a job with EA here in the UK, oh sigh.
I'm glad Take Two denied the offer though, it will eventually become a battle something similar to that between Intel and AMD, or nVidia and AMD, as the only 2 large giants for gaming are EA and MS Gamestudios.

Sam

SaII 26th February 2008, 00:21

I think they call this a "bear hug" in the industry.

because it's a bear market, get it ;D

Brett89 26th February 2008, 00:28

Glad they stood up to EA, EA is already far too big and I'm still mad at them for thew 100+mb patch for BF2 within a month, and ruining Westwood.

Amon 26th February 2008, 00:32

What's the big commotion over a large company buying out small fish? Your almighty Volkswagen did the same for about 13 other automakers. So what?

Now, what I do have a major problem with is their attempt at buying another big fish, Take 2 Interactive. Completely nonsensical.

1ad7 26th February 2008, 04:51

agreed, small companies joining large to medium company's is good most of the time, think tank!! I wish more small company's would join together and create a big fish.... I guess a school... lol sorry

naokaji 26th February 2008, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amon
What's the big commotion over a large company buying out small fish? Your almighty Volkswagen did the same for about 13 other automakers. So what?

I have a problem with the quality of EA games, not with the size of the company, I simply dont want even more crap quality games.