After all the fuss and excitement surrounding the prospect of Jack Thompson getting pwned by EA’s lawyers upon the release of GTA5, it seems that EA has bit the bullet and dashed all of our most inner-most late night giggles. Electronics Arts announced recently that they’ve officially ended merger negotiations with Take-Two.
EA says:“Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that while EA continues to have a high regard for Take-Two’s creative teams and products, after careful consideration, including a management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., EA has decided not to make a proposal to acquire Take-Two and has terminated discussions with Take-Two.”
Seems pretty terse and final. So what could be the cause of this not-so-unexpected withdrawal of EA’s tender offer? Well considering that EA has their own portfolio of games to gather all their attention, it seems that (of all things) GTA4’s sales may be the culprit. It seems that after a tough 6 months at retail that GTA4 managed to only sell 8.5 – 10 million copies (sarcasm).Take 2 didn’t take the news lying down like a forgotton drunken prom date, no.
Chairman Strauss Zelnick had this to say:”We remain focused on creating value for our stockholders and our consumers. This has been our goal since EA launched its conditional and unsolicited bid six months ago, a bid which was repeatedly rejected by our stockholders,” Zelnick said. “As part of that commitment, we remain actively engaged in discussions with other parties in the context of our formal process to consider strategic alternatives. We’re especially proud of the success we’ve enjoyed over the past eighteen months and we remain confident in our ability to generate value for stockholders.”Nice. Don’t let EA’s inability to woo a cute one get you down. Keep up that value for them stockholders.
For those who lost count, EA originally offered the Take2 stockholders a sum of some 2 billion dollars for the right to carjack. Take2 refused, presumably aiming for a higher sum. They even took negotiations beyond closed doors so they could speak privately, away from our chatter. It seems things didn’t go as smoothly as planned.
