Take Two Interactive has announced it is purchasing mobile and online games developer Zynga. The deal will be worth $12.7 billion with Take Two purchasing all shares of Zynga at a price of $9.86 per share. This move means that Take Two Interactive will become one of the biggest game publishers within the mobile games market. The mobile games market has been identified by Take Two Interactive as the fastest growing sector in the games industry. Comments were released by Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two, and Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga.
“We are thrilled to announce our transformative transaction with Zynga, which significantly diversifies our business and establishes our leadership position in mobile, the fastest growing segment of the interactive entertainment industry,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two.“This strategic combination brings together our best-in-class console and PC franchises, with a market-leading, diversified mobile publishing platform that has a rich history of innovation and creativity. Zynga also has a highly talented and deeply experienced team, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Take-Two family in the coming months. As we combine our complementary businesses and operate at a much larger scale, we believe that we will deliver significant value to both sets of stockholders, including $100 million of annual cost synergies within the first two years post-closing and at least $500 million of annual Net Bookings opportunities over time.”
“Combining Zynga’s expertise in mobile and next-generation platforms with Take-Two’s best-in-class capabilities and intellectual property will enable us to further advance our mission to connect the world through games while achieving significant growth and synergies together,” said Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga. “I am proud of our team’s hard work to deliver a strong finish to 2021, with one of the best performances in Zynga’s history. We are incredibly excited to have found a partner in Take-Two that shares our commitment to investing in our players, amplifying our creative culture, and generating more value for stockholders. With this transformative transaction, we begin a new journey which will allow us to create even better games, reach larger audiences and achieve significant growth as a leader in the next era of gaming.”
The acquisition of Zynga by Take Two Interactive also means that mobile games based on Take Two’s IPs will be developed. As the parent company of Rockstar, 2K, and Private Division there are dozens of properties that could see a bigger presence on mobile. Grand Theft Auto would be an obvious choice as it is a huge earner for Take Two, along with more games based on WWE 2K and NBA 2K. There are also the Borderlands games along with XCOM and Civilization. It will take a little while before we start to see the products from this deal appearing.
Source: Press Release
