Earlier today, Electronic Arts offered to acquire Take-Two for 2 billion dollars.
"EA's proposal of $26 per share in cash represents a premium of 64 percent over Take-Two's closing stock price on Feb. 15th, the last trading day before EA sent its revised proposal to Take-Two, and a 63 percent premium over Take-Two's 30-day trailing average price over the thirty trading days ending on that date", said the official statement.
EA CEO John Riccitello then commented that "Our all-cash 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. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities."
But Take-Two's board of directors declined the offer, which they described as "highly opportunistic", saying that it "substantially undervalues" the company's assets.
"We believe EA's unsolicited offer is highly opportunistic," stated Take-Two's official response, "and is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the industry."
The statement then continued to say that the offer "values the Company at a significant discount to its public peers and does not compensate Take-Two for its intrinsic value and the substantial synergies that the proposed combination would create."
Take-Two Chairman, Strauss Zelnick, commented that "in addition to undervaluing key elements of our business, EA's proposal fails to recognize the value we are building through our ongoing turnaround efforts, which will further revitalize Take-Two."
Take-Two's response concluded that EA is trying to jump on the bandwagon just in time to cash in on the impending release of GTA 4 on April, 29. " To that end, the Board would be willing to commit to entering into a good-faith discussion with EA on April 30, 2008 to determine if we can reach common ground on the proper value of the Company and therefore an appropriate, mutually beneficial transaction."
