EA have today confirmed that they offered to buy Take 2, for two billion dollars, which would mean an effective share price of $26. Take 2 said no, despite EA claiming the proposal is ‘a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders.’
They also say that Take-Two’s game designers would also benefit from EA’s ‘financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities’. They say they have been looking at Take-Two for ‘some time and have been in communication with them on-and-off for about a year. We opened a dialogue to discuss our intention to acquire Take-Two with the company’s management in December and followed up with a formal proposal on February 6th. We made a second proposal on February 19th’ and have no plans to scrap any existing Take 2 franchises, including (obviously) Grand Theft Auto.
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