take-two

The federal government would not have stood in the way of an Electronic Arts-Take Two merger, according to documents published to the Federal Trade Commission Web site.

The FTC said it had conducted an investigation of a merger of the companies, but said no further action was required, and closed the investigation, Reuters reported Wednesday.

But the FTC's efforts appear to be moot at this point. After months of pursuing Take Two, EA allowed its hostile bid to expire Monday at midnight.

The video game publishing powerhouse's original $2 billion takeover offer was made in February, and Take … Read more

Spore isn't the only thing on Electronic Arts' mind. The company still wants Take-Two Interactive.

On Monday, CEO John Riccitiello sent an open letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick saying that EA's existing offer to acquire the smaller game manufacturer for $25.74 per share would officially expire just before midnight Eastern time on Monday. It sounds like EA is simply losing patience.

"Given the passage of time, we have to validate the assumptions used in the model to support our offer price of $25.74 per share in cash," Riccitiello's letter read. "In … Read more

Electronic Arts announced Tuesday it was extending its tender offer for rival game developer Take-Two Interactive Software to July 18, marking its third extension since launching its hostile bid in March.

EA, which is currently offering Take-Two investors $25.74 a share, said nearly 6.14 million shares have been tendered in, representing approximately 8 percent of Take-Two's shares.

In early morning trading, Take-Two's stock hovered at $26.35 per share.

EA's previous deadline for its tender offer was June 16, which came roughly a week after Take-Two reported better than expected quarterly earnings, thanks to its … Read more

Video game maker Take-Two Interactive Software announced better-than-expected earnings on Thursday thanks to recording-setting sales of Grand Theft Auto IV.

For the second quarter ended April 30, net profit was $98.2 million, or $1.29 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $51.3 million, or 71 cents per share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2007. Sales were up more than 160 percent to $539.8 million for the period, blowing away analyst estimates of $499.1 million.

The company also raised its forecast for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Take-Two said it expects to … Read more

I was joking with an editor of mine this afternoon that CNET News.com should put a little permanent widget on our front page that says something along the lines of, "Has Electronic Arts announced a timeline extension of its offer to buy Take-Two Interactive today? Yes or no." And then it would have a little check-box for each choice.

Now, in all fairness, most days, the "No" box would be checked. But let's be honest here: On an awful lot of days, we'd have to toggle it to "Yes."

Today would … Read more

Electronic Arts announced Monday that it is extending its tender offer for Take-Two Interactive Software to mid-June, marking its third extension in its hostile buyout attempt of its rival game maker.

EA, which, to date, has received commitments from Take-Two investors to tender roughly 6.2 million shares, or 8 percent of the company, has extended its deadline to June 16. Previously, the deadline was set for May 16.

Taking a jab at its rival, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick issued a statement: "This is the same highly conditional proposal that EA offered Take-Two stockholders on March 13, 2008, which … Read more

"If you don't clean up your room today, you're going to be in trouble," yells Dad.

"I don't want to," retorts the rebellious teen. "I don't have to."

The day ends, and the next day, Dad says, "This time I really mean it. Clean up your room today, or there's going to be hell to pay."

This is exactly what the dynamic between Electronic Arts and Grand Theft Auto IV publisher Take-Two feels like: EA yells, "We're offering to buy you, but you have to … Read more

Electronic Arts' hostile bid for Grand Theft Auto producer Take-Two Interactive appears to have ended quietly this week.

The game maker, whose reduced acquisition bid of $25.74 a share was rejected as inadequate last month, had set Friday as the extended deadline for it to buy up Take-Two's shares. The day came and went without action regarding the takeover from either company.

The updated offer, rejected by Take-Two on April 18, continued to be inadequate and undesirable, according to Chairman Strauss Zelnick at the time. "It undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues … Read more

If worldwide headlines about the record-setting first-day and first-week sales of Grand Theft Auto IV weren't enough, the game's publisher and its developer, Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, now have a Guinness world record to boot.

On Tuesday morning, Guinness issued a press release certifying the game's insanely profitable launch as the entertainment industry's best ever for one day ($310 million) and one week ($500 million).

Interestingly, in stories I've written about this previously, I wrote that GTA IV had broken the single-day record of $170 million previously held by Bungie Studio's Xbox 360 … Read more