Waitin' Until Friday: Where Things Stand On EA-T2

The deadline for Electronic Arts' bid to acquire Take-Two is this Friday, May 16th, so we thought it'd be a good time to review what we've learned so far to see where things currently stand.

First off, there's no shame in being the type whose eyes glaze over every time you hear something to do with "the market" or "analysts" or "diluted shares," and since this ongoing saga contains these phrases at several junctions, you may want to start with the easy, albeit detailed, summary of the whole works we recently wrote for you.

Still with me? Hit the jump for your handy roundup of our recent coverage:

EA Snags "Napster"-Founded Social Net?

Remember Shawn "Napster" Fanning? TechCrunch is reporting that Electronic Arts is about to plunk down $30 million on Rupture, a social network for gamers that Fanning started up with co-founder Jon Baudanza, who'd both become EA employees in the deal.

According to TechCrunch, the draw for EA is Rupture's technology infrastructure, not its userbase, because as to the latter there apparently ain't much to speak of yet. The service apparently stalled in beta and never launched a second version. In other words, Rupture's not good for much - except as a ground on which EA could build a social network around multiplayer online games.

Analyst: Record GTA Sales Change Nothing For EA's "80/20" Take-Two Bid

Record-setting launch numbers for Grand Theft Auto IV had no significant impact on Take-Two's stock price this morning, lending credence to analyst views that the share price already included the expectation of extraordinary first-week sales of the title.

What does this mean for EA's ongoing bid for Take-Two? Cowen and Co. analyst Doug Creutz said this morning that even the GTA IV launch couldn't have elevated the share price from January's 17 dollars per share to its current 26-dollar range, and that right now the elevated price is due to investor eagerness for the sale.

"Take-Two's self-imposed moratorium [on negotiations] is over," said Creutz. "We haven't heard anything out of either company in the last week. They could be talking... I still think the odds that the deal happens that are very high... I don't think GTA changes that at all."

EA: We're After More Than "Game Of The Year" GTA IV

Electronic Arts reiterated this morning that its $2 billion buyout offer for Take-Two is not based on the company's short term valuation, and neither is it affected by the performance of a certain single franchise (guess which?).

Yesterday Take-Two's stock nudged up over $26 per share, a higher value than EA's $25.74 per-share bid. But EA's Mariam Sughayer, senior manager of Corporate Communications, says the company's looking further down the line — despite predicting that GTA IV is the likely contender for game of the year.

EA Sees Take-Two As Valuable And Shiny

Flattery certainly seems to be the wooing tactic of choice for EA in their attempt to win over Take-Two's affections. Chief Financial Officer of Warren Jenson has gone so far as to describe the people, studios and IPs at Take-Two as "diamonds":

"What we can do is take these diamonds, and really involve them in an organisation that does have global scale and that can help to work them to maximise the total effectiveness for the true market horsepower that their titles can have in the global marketplace."

EA keen on Take-Two "diamonds" [GameIndustry.biz]

Japanese Market 'Strategic Priority' for EA

Foundation 9 Entertainment Acquiring Sumo Digital