Electronic Arts went public with the news today that they are willing to pay $26 per share of stock in Take-Two Interactive. The decision to make this offer public came after Take-Two rejected a buyout bid from EA earlier in the week. Take-Two’s stock closed Friday at $17.36 per share, making EA’s offer a 50% premium.
For EA the take-over would be the perfect answer to the ongoing merger between Activision and Vivendi, and would put one of the hottest intellectual properties in the video game industry, Grand Theft Auto, under their control.
Take-Two’s board of directors, in an effort to convince their shareholders to resist the take-over, released a press release today reiterating that EA’s offer undervalues the worth of the company. Given the premium that EA is willing to pay Take-Two’s plea my be falling on deaf ears.
EA has scheduled a conference call to discuss it’s bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive tomorrow morning at 8:00 am (ET).
The next few days should be very interesting to watch. Even more so if you bought shares of Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) last week.
-Justin
[...] Well EA sure does seem to have made up its mind about going forward with acquiring Take-Two. Now there is a web site explaining their position. [...]