<![CDATA[Kotaku: Merger]]> http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Kotaku: Merger]]> http://kotaku.com/tag/merger http://kotaku.com/tag/merger <![CDATA[Take-Two Stock In Nose Dive After EA Loses Interest]]> So Electronic Arts buying Take-Two Interactive is no longer a going concern, and as our interest in the story wanes, so do stock prices for the two companies. Both stocks are taking hits on the North American stock exchange this morning. EA started off taking a more substantial hit of 2.7%, but prices have risen during the morning as people realize that hey, it's still EA. As of right now shares are currently trading at $44.34, a drop of 1.44% over the previous close. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5050004&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[EA Goes Dark Over Take-Two Bid]]> Like a corporate ninja, Electronic Arts has hurled a flash bomb and vanished into the shadows with Take-Two Interactive bundled under its cloak. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5041629&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[FTC Will Not Oppose EA/Take Two Merger]]> The Federal Trade Commission has posted closing letters to its site that show it has closed its Antitrust investigation into the Electronic Arts/Take Two merger. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5039725&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Activision Blizzard Merger To Leave Blizz Team Intact, Independent]]> The newly-merged Activision Blizzard may be planning to cut redundant staffers in areas where there's overlap with Activision and Vivendi, but the company plans to leave the Blizzard team untouched. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5028222&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Activision Blizzard Merger Official]]> Activision has officially received shareholder approval for its merger with Vivendi. The company said over 92 percent of its shareholders greenlighted the merger, and the transaction is expected to officially close tomorrow. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5023049&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Activision Blizzard - World's Most Valuable Video Game Company]]> Now that Activision and Blizzard have a set a July date for their merger to be put up to final shareholder vote, it's time for the game industry analysts to do what they do best - analyzing. Lazard Capital analyst Colin Sebastian doesn't just think the joining of the two will form a big game company...he says they'll be the best, at least from a financial point of view. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5015430&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[EU Gives Blizzard Activision Its Blessing]]> Today the European Commission granted French telecom and media group Vivendi permission to merge its videogame unit with Activision, thus bringing to fruition the merger first announced back in December. The Commission had to be sure that the joining of the two companies wouldn't cause a monopoly in the marketplace. They could have just asked us, but no, they had to be all official.
The Commission said for "all categories of game software, the combined firm would continue to face several strong, effective competitors, such as Electronic Arts, and the game console manufacturers, such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft".
Thank goodness. I know we were all on the edge of our seats there. Go tough-actin' BlizzActin! More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380394&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Take-Two Letters: EA Rejected]]> The Take-Two Board of Directors has released a long (long) response explaining why they have rejected EA's acquisition proposal. In short, they think EA's undervaluing Take-Two's worth. Included with the press release are several pieces of correspondence between the two companies regarding this proposed acquisition. Hit the jump for the full text from the Take-Two investor relations site: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=360147&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Activision Blizzard Merger That Nearly Wasn't]]> Trying to combine two companies into one successful partnership that all sides are happy with is hard work - and the Activision Blizzard merger was no exception. Papers filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) detail the process - the preliminary proxy statement is really, really massive, but does contain some interesting details about how the merger came to be (and almost wasn't on multiple occasions). More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=351931&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Vivendi Games and Activision Merge to Create Activision Blizzard [Update]]]> So I woke up this morning to a press release (and a ton of emails to the tip line) announcing that Vivendi Games (which includes Blizzard) and Activision are merging. Raise your hand if you didn't see that one coming, or do I just need another cup of coffee? Does this mean we have Guitarcraft to look forward to? The companies are going to be holding a conference call tomorrow morning at 8:30 EST that will be accompanied by a live webcast on the Vivendi and Activision websites. Vivendi will be the majority share holder in the deal after purchasing $1.7 billion in Activision stock, and the whole deal is reported to be worth a cool $18.9 billion. The full press release, with all the nitty gritty of the arrangement, is after the jump. Update: if you don't feel like slogging through the entirety of the press release, Blizzard has a nice little FAQ up on how this will impact the day-to-day operations of Blizzard. Short answer? It won't. (thanks to Stephen Totilo for mentioning it). More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=328919&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Mythic Co-Founder on EA Merger]]> Slashdot Games points to some interesting insight into the Mythic/EA merger from Mythic's own Mark Jacobs. More »
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