EA extends Take-Two purchase offer deadline a third time

20 Comments by Ludwig Kietzmann May 19th 2008 9:25AM
Filed under: Business

Super mega-huge publisher EA has announced a third extension of its tender offer for all outstanding shares of common Take-Two stock, pushing the previous deadline, which quietly passed by last Friday without so much as a hello, to 11:59PM EST on June 16, 2008. EA notes that as of 5:00PM EST on May 16, 2008, "approximately 6,210,261 shares of Take-Two had been tendered in and not withdrawn from the tender offer." In Take-Two's response, the publisher noted that said shares amount to 8% of the total.

The reason given for the latest extension seems to have less to do with virtuous patience and more to do with those pesky US Federal Trade Commission guys snooping around. "Extending our offer will allow the FTC review process to continue," said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of EA Corporate Development, who added that the $25.74-per-share offer remained unchanged. The FTC sent EA a second request for information regarding the proposed takeover back in April.

Take-Two's Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, reiterated that the offer was inadequate and continued to advise stockholders to hold on while buyout discussions with "interested parties" continue.

Read -- EA announcement
Read -- Take-Two's response

Tags: Acquisition, EA, EA-Take-Two, FTC, Take-Two

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Martin: May 19th 2008; 9:44AM

Wow, they just can't take a hint, can they? After how many times can Take Two put out a restraining order against EA?

xGeneral DEATHx: May 19th 2008; 9:52AM

Restraining orders are just another way of saying "I love you".

Pan: May 19th 2008; 9:44AM

3 time's the charm .. then 4 .. 5 ..

Chameleon: May 19th 2008; 9:45AM

::sigh::

damnit ....

Andrew: May 19th 2008; 9:56AM

$25.74 even though TTWO is currently trading at $26.80.

copa: May 19th 2008; 9:59AM

EA: I'll give you $25.74 a share for your stock.

T2 Shareholder: Uh, I can get more than that selling it right now on the open market.

EA: I'm very important. Sell to me for $25.74 a share.

T2 Shareholder: If I'm not willing to sell for more than $26 on the exchange, why would I sell for less than $26 to you?

EA: I'm not fucking around anymore. You sell to me by May 16th, or this offer is off the table!

T2 Shareholder: OK

EA: ...

EA: You sell to me by June 16th, or this offer is off the table!

Chameleon: May 19th 2008; 10:10AM

awesome ....

[+]

Rob: May 19th 2008; 10:18AM

I'm so sick of EA news. No one cares, EA sucks, why do you even post their news? We really don't want to read about it - we don't buy their games, we don't play their games, we don't want to read their news. If they want to ruin the world more with buying other companies then I don't care about those companies anymore either.

Maverick Saturn: May 19th 2008; 11:43AM

European Association :)

RPGJock: May 19th 2008; 10:20AM

Curious, I wonder who would play the "Carl Icahn" in this if EA walks from this.

Like it or not gamers, this is a business and if the stock significantly drops due to EA walking away, there will be heads that will roll over it. The people who actually own stock wants to make a profit. Plan and simple. If all these "gamers" who are against the "evil empire" controlling the company need to either buy some stock to keep it from EA and take the lost or they need to honestly STFU.

I am just saying...

method of payment: May 19th 2008; 10:42AM

All EA has to do is get shares, even if it means at a trickle pace. I'm sure they'd prefer to get them in a huge chunk like when they bought into Ubisoft, but 8% of shares is still more than when they started.

Kye: May 19th 2008; 10:54AM

Maybe if T2 gift wrapped the hint EA would take it this time?

method of payment: May 19th 2008; 11:04AM

well again, EA already knows that Take Two considers the bid hostile. So they might as well appeal to the wallets of the shareholders. EA isn't stupid, the stock price jumped as soon as they announced a bid, so there's a large amount of shareholders that are in it to sell for money rather than some noble cause to keep TT independent, EA just has to pony up the right amount.

xFenixKnightx: May 19th 2008; 11:24AM

Judging by the pic,

Omm nom nom, not so much...yet :(

Maverick Saturn: May 19th 2008; 11:30AM

(Jaws music)

T2: EA is perverted mummy! Hes stalking me!

T2 Mum: Just keep walking honey, don't look back

EA: Ima coming, Ima gunna find ya!

dark_inchworm: May 19th 2008; 2:01PM

You EA folks are some seriously dumb bastards.

BIGGEN: May 19th 2008; 3:42PM

well, i think it's safe to say i'm sick of this saga. i wish someone would give EA a deadline. and break them up into millions of little pieces.

kagai: May 19th 2008; 4:03PM

Lesson of the day: When wooing a woman, don't forgo the dozen roses for a pack of condoms!

Ryan de michigan: May 19th 2008; 6:41PM

love the pic

MachineHead: May 20th 2008; 2:05AM

Here's how it works, large TTWO stock holders have hundreds of thousands or millions of shares. If they tried to sell all their stock at market ($27), they would only make the price drop like crazy (they'd have to sell in many chunks, not all shares at once). EA would guarantee $25.74 for *all* of their shares. Also recall that TTWOs stock was $15 before all this, the price is basically inflated. If EA would have gave up on the buyout today, the stock would have gone back to $15 in a few weeks.

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