<![CDATA[Kotaku: Buyout]]> http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Kotaku: Buyout]]> http://kotaku.com/tag/buyout http://kotaku.com/tag/buyout <![CDATA[EA Stock Soars On Microsoft Buyout Rumors]]> Rumors can be powerful forces in the economy, as evidenced by an 8.1 percent rise in Electronic Arts stock today following unsubstantiated rumors that Microsoft was interested in buying the publisher out. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5366233&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Take-Two Settles Shareholder Lawsuit]]> Closing one of the last doors left over from last year's EA takeover bid, Take-Two Interactive has entered into an agreement to settle a shareholder lawsuit stemming from their failure to consider EA's offer. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5200829&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[By The Way, Namco Bandai Owns (Most Of) D3]]> Last month, Namco Bandai announced plans to turn Puzzle Quest and Oneechanbara publisher D3Publisher into a subsidiary. Today, the plan went into action. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5172623&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Eidos Pencils In Square Enix Takeover For May]]> UK publisher Eidos has issue a timeline to its shareholders, indicating that if all goes as planned, Square Enix will take full ownership on May 6th. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5164380&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Square Enix Continues To Slowly Devour Eidos]]> Square Enix has scooped up another large chunk of Eidos Interactive stock as shareholder support continues to build for the proposed buyout of the Tomb Raider publisher. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5159350&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Namco Bandai Plans Buyout Of D3]]> First Square Enix announces its bid for Eidos, and now Namco Bandai reveals its intentions to purchase Japanese publisher D3, the parent company of Puzzle Quest's D3 Publisher. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5152556&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Eidos Stock Explodes In Wake Of Square Enix Bid]]> Shares of Eidos on the London Stock Exchange skyrocketed today, more than doubling following the announcement of a generous buyout bid by Japanese RPG giant Square Enix. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5152253&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Google Entering Game Industry Through Valve]]> So the folks at Forbes are thinking that Google could become a big name in the games industry, and now rumors are swirling about the internets that they are planning on doing just that in the way of all giant corporations with way too much money - buying someone else. In this case, the target is Valve, makers of Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and oh yeah, Steam. The enormously popular digital gaming distribution platform would indeed present a tasty takeover target for the company that loves making money off the internet. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5051065&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[EA Mods Take-Two Tender Offer]]> When Take-Two rejected EA's buyout offer for the umpteenth time earlier this week, they also instituted a shareholder rights plan - a poison pill tactic that would give existing shareholders more room to reject the offer outright or negotiate a higher price - basically making it much more difficult for Electronic Arts to pull off the takeover. EA is not pleased.
"The actions of the Take-Two Board may increase the risk for their stockholders by delaying a potential transaction," said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at EA. "We continue to believe that our $26.00 per share offer price is full and fair, and that a transaction between Take-Two and EA is the most compelling combination financially, strategically and operationally for all parties."
More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=373332&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Take-Two Deems EA's Offer Inadequate Again]]> Once again Take-Two Interactive has denied the takeover bid from Electronic Arts, stating that the offer of $26 a share is not only inadequate, but also underhanded. Urging stockholders not to sell their stock, Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick explains that the timing just isn't right.
Our Board, after careful review, has unanimously determined that Electronic Arts' offer continues to provide insufficient value and remains opportunistically timed to capture the value of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV launch at the expense of our stockholders.
In the long and winding press release that follows, Take-Two outlines plans to explore their financial alternatives after GTA IV is released. Said alternatives include a "business combination" with EA or other third parties that would allow Take-Two to remain independent, or simply selling the company for more money. In short, they want to see what GTA IV does to their value before they sell anything. For the long story, hit the jump. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372337&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Analyst: Take-Two Talks Buyout Before GTA IV]]> Despite predicting fiscal year sales of Grand Theft Auto IV to reach 9 million, with 6 million shipping out the first week, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Take-Two is ready to talk EA buyout. Citing a poor lineup over the next year, with major sequels such as BioShock 2 a long way off, Pachter believes that Take-Two will abandon it's stance on not discussing a potential buyout until after GTA IV is released.
"We expect that in order to save face, Take-Two management will withdraw its demand that any discussions wait until after the launch of GTA IV, and we think that management will engage in discussions with EA,"
Pachter also suspects that EA, in order to facilitate a more friendly transaction, will be willing to up their offer to as high as $27 a share. With big investors already bailing, stockholders would likely jump at the offer. At this point EA purchasing Take-Two feels like less of an if and more of a when. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=366822&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[EA's Take-Two Call Outlines Potential of Deal]]> We've written quite a bit in the past day about Electronic Arts offer to buy out Take-Two, so some of you might be getting sick of the churn, but I think it's worth pointing out that EA did a call early this morning to reiterate their position on this whole thing. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=360463&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Take-Two Stock Jumps 47% In Wake Of EA Proposal]]> On Friday, shares of Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) were trading for $17.36 a share as of market closing. Then over the weekend EA made its bid for Take-Two public, releasing details of a proposed buyout at $26 a share to various news outlets including Kotaku, even going as far as to open a website dedicated to their proposal. Well surprise, surprise, this morning TTWO opened at $25.75 a share - 47% above the last closing. Shares are going fast too, with massive chunks being sold off at a time. Over the past 3 months the average trade volume for the stock has been around 1.8 million a day. As of this writing, 12.5 million shares have already changed hands. So what does this mean? Stockholders believe this buyout will happen. So do arbitrageurs - companies that buy up huge amounts of stock for the chance at making small yet high volume profits. In other words, these companies believe so strongly that the $26 a share offer will go through that they are willing to buy up huge amounts for the chance at making $.25 profit a share. I dunno folks, this looks like it could very well happen. Hold me. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=360337&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[EA Or Not EA - The Take-Two Question]]> So EA wants to buy Take-Two Interactive, to the tune of $2 billion, and while to a certain degree I agree with EA's CEO John Riccitiello - this would be a major win for Take-Two stockholders, who've hung on for a rather bumpy ride over the past few years, I'm not sure how good it would be to the people who really matter to us here at Kotaku - the gamers. I thought I would take a look at the pros and cons of such a massive purchase, and then let you folks discuss it a bit as well. Imagine a squiggly, screen-distorting dream sequence effect here as we ponder the question, "What if Take-Two agreed to an EA buyout?" More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=360133&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rumor: Gamestop Buys Rhino]]> The Cheap Ass Gamer forums are running wild with unconfirmed reports that specialty retailer Gamestop has welcomed a new member into the corporate family, Rhino Video Games. The chain of 70-plus retail video game stores based out of Gainesville, Florida is currently owned by Blockbuster, Inc. More »
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