@Sonic_and_Tails: The only reason TTWO is worth $26 right now is because of EA's bid. If for some reason they suddenly withdrew their bid and said they were no longer interested, I'm pretty sure TTWO would tank. Between ongoing management issues, hemorrhaging money, and the current bear market, there is a reason why TTWO was priced the way it was before EA's came in. As far as GTA4 goes, I would be more inclined to think that that was already baked into the previous price to a certain extent.

KoolAidMan

Quick question. If the shares manage to go above the $26 threshold, then why the hell would they agree to the buyout? In my estimation the lower the stock drops the more attractive the buyouy becomes.

I can understand outside analysts and venture capitalists buying into the idea, but the closer the stock gets to $26, the less incentive there is to actually perform the deal, am I wrong?

Sonic_and_Tails

@Jericho114: Problem is, if the buyout happens, often times the buyer makes the key personel sign contracts stating they cannot leave the company unless so many years have gone by.

gibfather

@WolfGod: Why sell when EA can just buy all the shares from people at 26 bucks and call it a day. If you own all the stock... you own all of the company.

mmr

I made a grand on this this morning. I would have made about four times that but I was holding out for a lower price last week and then this craziness hit the fan.

mmr

$2 billion is a lot of money and with stocks jumping up like this, I think Take-Two will sell.

WolfGod

I don't understand why so much of this is public right now. John Riccatello's "open letter" website makes no sense. Is EA hoping to get public support from gamers and the rest of the industry? Why would we give a crap? And if we did, why would EA think we would support them, given the "command and conquer" (John's words) approach to acquisitions that has been their legacy? It strikes me as very hypocritical to follow that GDC speech (in which he apologizes for EA's past behavior in this regard) with this hostile takeover attempt.

catapult37

I own stock in Take-Two

this makes me very happy :D

FLYBOY611

@nomadder:
Tinfoil hats for sale! Tinfoil hats for sale!

dubz

It's like standing on a street corner watching Godzilla and Gamera duke it out... you can't really do anything but hope a giant chunk of skyscraper doesn't land on you or something and neither one gets killed...

fuchikoma

@Jericho114:

EA is taking advantage of Take Two problems, Take Two already said they are not going to make any deal before GTA IV is released, of course then its not going to be just 2 billions and EA cannot afford to simply "take over", you might see a "merge" deal at that stage but then its EA that does not want it.

Drakron

It looks like the stock is trading over the bid price now. EA might have to sweeten its offer.

TomHayden

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft also makes a bid for Take-Two to try and keep BioShock exclusive. If anyone has billions to spend its them. Maybe this was the rumor that Gamepro spoke of but just got the companies wrong. Though as a poke at Sony's eye it would be hilarious to see MS buy Epic for the 2 billion Rein thinks that company is worth (which I don't think it is).

Tull

*immediately logs into trading account*

Up $3,000 on TTWO... I for one welcome our new EA overlords!

ChymChymX

I don't think EA's gonna get Take 2, at least I pray. My question is though; if EA were to buy Take 2, and say the developers at take 2 weren't happy with the decision couldn't they just go move on and make another company and just not have the same licenses such as Manhunt,Gta, etc?

Jericho114

I weep. I cant wait to hear DJ Atomica tell me the best places to do trick jumps in Liberty City..

I swear EA if you ever ever interfere with Rockstars game development I will find were all you suits live and kill you one by one and ill do it slowly by using a rusty spoon.

DAMN YOU! Leave Rockstar alone!

NAT_TA

Take Two is a major publisher, EA is simply trying to make a monopoly on publishing.

Remember Ubisoft that was what? just last year?

Activision Blizzard will not happen because of Vivendi SA who owns it and is FAR bigger that EA.

Drakron

If EA buys Take Two I WILL NOT buy GTA4. Screw them all. They will get none of my dollars.

axia777

We all need to ban together and boycott EA games.

Streeks1984

The Burnout series WAS, untill they cacked it up.
Urm...don;t like sports games...

So...no. I can't think of an EA game Ive bought recently.

OH, I bought Battlefield 2! And that sucked.

And I suppose Mass Effect counts now?

CanaryWundaboy

EA wants to get their hands on T2 before GTA4 comes out and before they announce earnings next Tuesday (with the sales success of Bioshock). They most likely also just want to eliminate their only competition in the sports genre by merging/elminiating 2K Sports. No reason why they would keep it around to cannibalize EA Sports. After renewing new royalty agreements with the sports leagues, they're going to need to make sure they re-coup every penny from every sports game they can to dominate the genre.

If anything I want to see Activision come in and offer to play around :D They don't really have a sports franchise (Tony Hawk is pretty specific) and between them and Vivendi (who will be the controlling shareholder), both have a *much* better record (Infinity Ward, Blizzard) than EA of letting subsidiary developers run their own divisions (*cough* Westwood, Maxis)....

Noc514

After reading this article I just thought of something interesting. I don't think I have boughten a game from EA in 3 or 4 years. I'm not protesting them or anything, they just haven't been making anything I want. I actually just went through the wikipedia list of EA games and the last one I got was The Sims in 2004.

Is there anyone out there that is actually for EA buying well, everything they can get there hands on?

shadowmaster4

A lot of people hoping to profit from the sale.

Sadly, now that T2 declined its going to drop back down like a rock.

brent_w

I bought 1000 shares last Tuesday at 15.82. I just made a lot of money today. I welcome our new overlords at EA.

Broward

@What The Geek: superb post!

huginn - No I will not give you a hug!

Well, dammit. This ain't good. :(

Derkomai

SEE, thats why you dont wake up a sleeping giant, Activision-Blizzard. You just had to go and prove the EA CEO wrong when he said no big mergers were going to happen, now look at what you have created. They will now control almost 100% of the sports game market, be able to pimp out any of their new IPs and market the hell out of them.

meltyman

Good god...*Although*....geez one nomination and now this whole dynamic has changed for me....;)

GameraTheGreat

100 yrs from now your corporate affiliation will be more significant than the country of your birth, and people will be more than happy to go along with that brave new world. (just look at modern day fanboys)
It's bad enought that only 5 or 6 media corporations own over 90% of the worlds news/entertainment companies.
You think Fox News (or rather the power behind it) is bad? Wait until EA is so large and bloated that every game they make is a political message (read: propaganda) as well as a nickel/dime cashgrab.
Theres no conspiracy here folks. This is just how it is. We don't need some secret organization to conspire to take over the world when our public organizations are doing the job already.
I would say "wake up", but what would that really accomplish? Can someone even make a difference anymore, or have we already woken up in the middle of a long slow slide down a slippery slope begun back when the first corporation was formed?

nomadder

Uhhh...read not *reads*....altough I'm sure everyone understood....

GameraTheGreat

Did anyone read the financial reports of Take Two for the last 3 years? They are making a loss every year other than the year they opened the company.

In my opinion, whoever is buying those stocks are going to get burnt if the deal never happens and once the selling frenzy starts, you would see a increase in the beggars lining your streets.

Follow this link to see their financial reports...
[finance.yahoo.com]

And for those who don't know, those in BRACKETS ( ) means losses.

Banedon38

Sounds like a good time for profit taking while the goings good. Then if possible get back in before GTA4 launches.

cactaur

EA is picking up every company I love in the gaming industry, and I'm positive that they're gonna cock it up somehow. Whether it be overpriced DLC, or rehash after rehash of a popular IP (GTA '09 anyone?). First it was Bioware and Pandemic - may they rest in peace, and now Take Two.... I'd like to say something to anyone from EA that may be reading this, and I sincerely hope you take this to heart.

Dear EA,

I understand the strong urge to squeeze every penny out of every intellectual property you get your hands on - after all, what's the point of a business if not to make profit? I humbly ask you to consider the long term ramifications of your actions. If you continue to devour the best and the brightest companies under the sun, and reduce their works to homogenized sequels and overpriced downloadable content, you will irreversibly damage the industry in the long term. You'll see a higher profit today at the cost of a lack of interest in your products tomorrow, and this hurts us all. If the face of gaming becomes too similar to the face of hollywood, we'll all pay the price - and that price will be the death of gaming. Let me clarify - the reason I and many others have stopped going to the movies is that movies have become total crap for lack of a nicer word. It's the same movie over and over again with a different title, and I just can't bring myself to pay $9 to get in, and another $15 for snacks. A trip for two to a movie theater can come close to fifty bucks, and it's just not worth it anymore - and that's exactly what you are running the risk of doing to gaming. By stifling innovation, and charging for every bit of DLC (when was the last time EA gave away any DLC for free?) you are working to create a stale industry which will be replaced by the next form of media to come down the line. So please, PLEASE look at the big picture - don't condemn the video game industry to an early death for the sake of slightly higher profits.

Sincerely,
Mike K

What The Geek

This smacks of an effort to gobble up 2k....it's bad enough that they pushed them out of football but now they want to absorb them also? I guess EA does reads comment boards and as a result, they are strategically going after the only comp they have in sports games. This IS big business and the gaming industry. As gamers we are getting pimped.....

GameraTheGreat

Well... I'm not really into the stock market, but... can't Take Two just say... NO?

fresky

@ghnvt: Make more sense than buying Yahoo!.

Manny

Couldn't EA have just bought up a buttload of stock at the low price and bought up TakeTwo?

Kuromankuro

Tactics against hostile takeover anyone?

Perhaps the street simply is just re-evaluating TT due to EA's interest on it seems off the chart, but I wouldn't put it past TT to do -something- to fend off the monster knock as EA, an anti-posion pill by selling off some of it's debts to raise it's stock price against a hostile take over (who among us doesn't think EA isn't above a hostile take over?!)

This might get really interesting really fast if Peter Moore and company really want TT

huginn - No I will not give you a hug!

WOOO HOO! MONEY! it's sad that something like this is happening, but once they say that they want to buy for a price that high, then people will sell for that price.

Kuromankuro

As i stated before EA will own T2 by the end of this week. EA is playing dirty making this news public as they have taken the leverage that T2 had prior to this. With GTA4 coming out and what not.

gnudna

:'( No... No... No...

EA should take notice... People are dreading them wrecking their favourite franchises. maybe they should re-evaluate before buying up more companies?

WEGGLES90

BOO! BOO! Money hungry goons! effing it up for everyone else!

Father ColdCuts Lv. 30 Priest

Hey video game kids-- why didn't you all buy this stock when bioshock was released? You all knew that that game was amazing new IP, and that the gta4 delay would only make for a better game. use your passion for gaming to your advantage!

jarjarwang

@EnigmaNemesis:

Its a conspiracy, DUH!

ghnvt

Everything is going according to EA's plans.

DonWii

Yay. Go EA. Take down those Borg known as Activision.
And as soon as you get in the lead again, I'll start booing you again, and cheering Activision.

@ghnvt: @EnigmaNemesis: At this point, I don't think they can afford it.
I mean, they have the money, but they just won't devote their resources to buying out something like that. The big money goes to their PC Software division, and I can't see them dropping $10 Billion+ to get EA.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Argh, I knew I should have moved on this. My problem with the stock market is I'm just too damn slow.

badasscat

The price is still going up so I guess people feel like loosing money, since I doubt it is going to stay below the current offer per share. All these vultures are going to screw themselves if the trade happens.

Guttlesswonder

@ghnvt:

I believe it!

EnigmaNemesis

Microsoft to buy EA, why do you think Peter Moore is there, he is the mole.

ghnvt

If EA succeed in a hostile takeover before the release of GTA VI it will taint the release so much I can see it harming both parties.

Tis a sad day my friends.. mourn with me :(

Azrial

EA to buy Nintendo. You heard it here first

Kyle81

up 54.9% as of now

tmanflys

FUCK.

flclkris

If EA buys Take 2, no GTA for me...

reptile168

Finance your company with your own profits more, sell stock less, and this shit won't happen to you.

crapsh00t

@SolidOni_ds: Umm yeah, right. That's a LONG ways off

Denver_80203

@catapult37: The reason for making it public was to try to woo investors since the board of Take Two rejected EA's offer. As for the GDC speech, his words were "command and control" meaning EA tried to force their acquired studios to match their corporate culture which obviously didn't work. This doesn't preclude acquiring new studios it just means that if EA has learned its lesson it won't try to force the studio to conform to a culture that it doesn't match.

testmunky

EA needs to stop before they become a Monopoly

SolidOni_ds

I bought stock in Take Two in october for 14.7 dollars... Now its up to 26.88. This just made my day

fantasticfen

Actually, this is exactly what arbitrageurs don't do - take risks.

Arbitrage is buying in one market while simultaneously selling in another so that (theoretically) there is no possibility to lose money. Since if the deal doesn't go through, an awful lot of money will be lost here, this would be the work of speculators.

Sidenote: The trading level is actually above $26 right now. Most likely the continued buying is due to EA purchasing T2 shares on the open market through proxy companies, otherwise the value would have stagnated below $26 per share.

Jovial

EA does have some decent games (BF series is quite good,IMO)

Large monolithic corporations with minimized competition (even with the bes of intentions) tend to slow innovation and satiate the public at a pretty mediocre level. I don't think EA intends to release crappy products but unless the masses vote with their dollars and actually demand better more innovative games (which they rarely seem to do) we are stuck. Larger corps have no reason to innovate if people keep buying the same things over and over.
I hope for the best (for me as a gamer) whatever the outcome is.

Ehardergardens

ha...now watch it crash on its inflated ass.

LLamaStar