Acquisitions

Two billion takeover bid was offered last Monday by Electronic Arts to Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the American developer of a popular game series Grand Theft Auto. Messianic EA declares that it is only matter of time, when Take-Two will announce its premium offer. Troubled company, whose former representatives including Chairman and CEO Ryan A. Brant, pleaded guilty in 2007 to falsifying business records in connection with a probe into backdated stock options, manages to react to the offer till April, 30, hopefully the successful release of the last issue of Grand Theft Auto IV. Series has sold out more than 65 million copies and scores as one of the most successful games in the history. EA, the American developer, marketer, publisher, and distributor of computer and video games, that established its name by promoting the designers and programmers responsible for their games and the franchiseowner of the Sims, Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Command and Conquer offered two billion after less than a year shareholding in Take-Two. As a matter of fact, Take-Two bid would be EA' s biggest buyout. Looking behind the curtain of PC games business we must mention planned mergering of French media and telecom giant Vivendi SA with Activision Inc., a developer of "World of Warcraft" and "Guitar Hero", by the way the main rival of EA. That EA hopes to advance its position on market is clearly enough, yet its representatives urges Take-Two to accept the bid as soon as possible, the most useful it would be before releasing new volume of Grand Theft. Whether EA success to gain brothers Housers, the creators and leaders of Take-Two Games Label seems to take longer time. Nevertheless they signed up the contract lasting till 2009. EA' s analysts Michael Pachter and Wedbush Morgan assured that Housers don' t make a big difference to a deal. "If they choose to go independent, EA will be their first customer," he decared.

by Milota Sidorova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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