EA với ý định thâu tóm Take-Two Interactive

vietkhoant · 25/2/08

Hãng phát hành game lớn thứ 2 thế giới hiện thời EA đã gửi lời đề nghị đến ban lãnh của Take-Two Interactive đề nghị mua lại tập đoàn game này với giá 2 tỷ USD. Tuy nhiên ban lãnh đạo của Take-Two Interactive đã từ chối thẳng thừng lời đề nghị này vì cho rằng giá mà EA đưa ra là quá thấp so với giá trị thực tế của hãng. Take-Two là hãng mẹ của 2 nhà phát hành game nổi tiếng là Rockstar game với series GTA huyền thoại và 2K Games với nhiều tựa game nổi tiếng như series 2K sport, Bioshock,.... Dù chưa chấp thuận lời đề nghị của EA nhưng hãng Take-Two vẫn để ngỏ lời đề nghi của EA vào 1 cuộc đàm phán 2 bên vào 30/4, tức là sau khi phát hành GTAIV.

Analyst expects EA hostile takeover of Take-Two

Michael Pachter says proposed acquisition is happening whether Grand Theft Auto IV publisher likes it or not, believes sports domination is the driving force behind it.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Feb 24, 2008 4:30 pm PT

Earlier today, Electronic Arts went public with the news that it had offered to acquire Take-Two Interactive for nearly $2 billion--and that Take-Two management had turned the offer down. EA's offer broke down to $26 per share for Take-Two, a 64 percent premium over the stock's price of $15.83 at the time the offer was made.

Speaking with GameSpot today, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter questioned Take-Two's judgment in turning down the deal.

"The share price on Friday tells you that investors think the share price is $17. So an offer of $26 by definition is more than adequate," Pachter said. "And if the only argument management makes is that they have a turnaround plan and to give them time...It could take two or three years for them to get [the stock price] to that same $26. Who in their right mind thinks $26 three years from now is better than $26 today? This is a bird in the hand."

Despite the rebuff, Pachter predicted the acquisition will happen one way or the other. If the board of directors won't sell the company, he said EA can perform a hostile takeover, buying up enough shares on the open market to gain control of the company and show the current management team the door.

"By going public, EA is telling you, 'This deal is happening.' The only way you can credibly reject the deal is if there's a better one behind it," Pachter said. "I don't see how anyone can afford to pay this much or more for the stock."

More so than Take-Two's hit properties like Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock, Pachter believe sports are the driving motivation behind the deal, and a main reason he doesn't expect other acquiring suitors to come calling. The economic advantages of eliminating 2K Sports--EA Sports' primary competitor in the market--are so great that they could pay for the $2 billion deal on their own, Pachter said.

"There's only one company that can make sense out of an acquisition of Take-Two, and that's EA," Pachter said. "For anyone else to buy Take-Two, they'd have to decide either to bloody themselves competing in sports against EA, or shut down the sports business and give up. Either way, there aren't many people who are going to pay a premium for the right to engage with EA or shut down that business."

One question mark about an acquisition of Take-Two is how much of the company can actually be transferred to EA. Pachter said key development personal like Firaxis' Sid Meier, 2K Boston's Ken Levine, and Rockstar's Sam and Dan Houser likely have change-of-control clauses in their contracts that would allow them to jump ship if ownership of the business changes hands.

"If any of the people under employment contracts with Take-Two have lawyers who are worth anything, there are change-of-control provisions," Pachter said. "They all should have that, but I don't think this deal is about retention of employees. With the [possible] exception of the Rockstar North guys, I think all of the [contracted] employees at Take-Two would actually welcome working for EA. I think Sid Meier would love to see Civilization have broader distribution and more focused marketing, and EA is really good at both."

Take-Two calls EA buyout offer 'undervalued'

Publisher's board of directors dismisses proposed $2 billion deal as an opportunistic attempt to get on the Grand Theft Auto IV bandwagon; says it will initiate talks after game's release.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Feb 24, 2008 2:13 pm PT

Earlier today, Electronic Arts revealed it had made an all-cash offer of nearly $2 billion to acquire rival publisher Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two's board of directors rejected the proposal, leading Electronic Arts to go public with the deal today to inform the Grand Theft Auto IV publisher's shareholders exactly what their corporate leadership is passing on. Take-Two has responded this afternoon with its own announcement to explain why the directors had balked at the proposed acquisition, saying neither the time nor the price was right.

"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," explained the publisher's chairman of the board, Strauss Zelnick. "While we have made substantial progress already, the turnaround of our business which we initiated in June is not yet complete, and we believe its benefits have not been recognized in either our current stock price or in the value of EA's proposal."

Take-Two said the proposal "substantially undervalues" its franchises, creative talent, and consumer loyalty. As for the timing, the publisher suggested its rival was trying to ride the coming wave created by the Take-Two-owned Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, which should arrive in stores on April 29.

"We believe EA's unsolicited offer is highly opportunistic 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," Take-Two said in a statement. "Furthermore, 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."

Despite the tough talk, Take-Two didn't rule out the possibility of an acquisition at a slightly later date. The publisher said it was willing to start a dialogue with EA to see if they could agree on a price, but that it would defer such discussions until after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

"[We] offered to initiate discussions with EA on April 30, 2008 (the day after Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release)," Zelnick said. "We believe this offer demonstrated our commitment to pursuing all avenues to maximize stockholder value, while we believe that EA's refusal to entertain this path is evidence of their desire to acquire Take-Two at a significant discount, whereas we believe this value rightly belongs to our stockholders."

Zelnick also expressed other concerns in a letter sent to EA CEO John Riccitiello on Friday and reprinted in today's announcement. Specifically, he questioned the impact such an acquisition would have on developers fearful of layoffs and studio closures.

"[As] we have all seen time and again, the process surrounding acquiring a public company from start to finish is complex, uncertain, intrusive, and distracting," Zelnick said, "and we believe it would be especially so to the creative artists at the core of our business and to all those who may be displaced by a transaction."

EA proposes Take-Two takeover

Megapublisher takes $2 billion offer for the Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, and 2K Sports owner to shareholders after Take-Two execs decline the deal.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Feb 24, 2008 12:38 pm PT

After last year's surprise announcement that Vivendi would be merging its games business (including World of Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment) with Activision in a staggering deal worth $18.9 billion, Electronic Arts' position as the world's largest third-party publisher was in jeopardy. It appears EA wants that distinction locked up for itself, as the publisher today proposed another industry-shaking deal: the acquisition of Take-Two Interactive for roughly $2 billion.

EA revealed that in a letter sent last Tuesday by EA chief executive officer John Riccitiello to Take-Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick, Riccitiello offered the all-cash deal, which is a 64 percent premium over Take-Two's most recent closing stock value on the day of the offer. However, Take-Two's board of directors declined the offer, according to EA, which led directly to today's announcement.

"Our strong preference is to conduct a private negotiation," the letter stated. "If you are unwilling to proceed on that basis, however, we may pursue other means, including the public disclosure of this letter, to bring our offer and the compelling value it represents to the attention of Take-Two's shareholders."

Riccitiello was proposing a different message in November, when in a presentation at the Reuters Media Summit he suggested that acquisition opportunities in the gaming industry were drying up. That was just days before the announcement of the Activision-Vivendi union.

If the proposed Take-Two takeover were to go through, it would give EA control of some hotly contested industry territory. First and foremost, EA would have control of Rockstar Games and its controversial and lucrative Grand Theft Auto franchise, significantly beefing up its slim roster of hit games rated M for Mature. In addition to that, the sports gaming market would see tremendous consolidation, as EA Sports and Take-Two's 2K Sports label have directly competed in the football, hockey, baseball, and basketball markets over the years. They each have their own new boxing franchise in development as well, with 2K's Prizefighter answering the bell against EA's Facebreaker.

Shortly after EA went public with the proposed deal, Take-Two explained its reasons for declining the offer, saying the publisher had undervalued its array of franchises and creative talent, and that it wouldn't be prudent to enter discussions of an acquisition so close to the April 29 launch of Grand Theft Auto IV. However, Take-Two executives left room for a deal to happen, saying they would be interested in beginning talks with EA starting April 30.
Source: www.gamespot.com
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Có vẻ như nếu vụ thâu tóm này thành công thì EA sẽ lấy lại vị trí dẫn đầu của Activision - Blizzard.

vaan009 · 25/2/08

Nếu EA mà mua lại 2K thì tương lai các game thể thao như basketball,baseball...sẽ ko còn sự đối chọi như trước,chung 1 mái nhà thì ko bít chất lượng nó sẽ ra sao đây??

HoàngTử_BaTư · 25/2/08

hehe em thấy tụi EA mua lại giá 2tỷ đô có vẻ hơi ít, thấy vụ Vivendi mua lại Activision đã là 18,9 tỷ rồi...

jackychun · 25/2/08

hehe, vừa post bài này bên box GTA. Nếu EA mà thâu tóm được Take2 thì quả là 1 tin chả mấy vui vẻ j, trước h mình đã ko ưa bọn EA rồi. Hy vọng GTA IV sẽ thu về lợi nhuận lớn để các bác cổ đông Take2 yên tâm mà hưởng lợi, miễn cái vụ sát nhập cho em nhờ.

Sau sự kiện đình đám Activision sát nhập với Blizzard để trở thành đối trọng của EA, thì ông lớn EA cũng lập tức có động thái đáp trả. Hôm qua EA chính thức tuyên bố mua lại Take2 với giá 2 tỉ đô la. Giá này tương đương với mức giá 26$/cổ phiếu để mua được trên 50% số lượng cổ phiếu của Take2. Trước đó EA đã từng trả 25$/cổ phiếu nhưng bị từ chối. EA hy vọng với mức giá này sẽ thu hút các cổ đông của Take2 bán cổ phần.
Đáp lại hành động của EA, hôm nay Take2 chính thức công bố từ chối việc mua bán này: "TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE'S BOARD REJECTS ELECTRONIC ARTS' UNSOLICITED PROPOSAL AS INADEQUATE." Với lý do lợi nhuận mà GTA IV sắp tới sẽ đem lại, Take2 cho rằng đây chưa phải là thời điểm thích hợp để mua bán.
Tuy vậy họ vẫn sẵn sàng thảo luận lại với EA vào 30/4/08, 1 ngày sau khi GTA IV ra mắt.
Trích dẫn:
"Given the great importance of the Grand Theft Auto IV launch to the value of Take-Two, the Board has determined that the only prudent and responsible course for [Take-Two] and its stockholders is to defer these discussions until immediately after Grand Theft Auto IV is released. Therefore, we offered to initiate discussions with EA on April 30th, 2008 (the day after Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release)."
Chẳng nản lòng, EA tiếp tục đưa ra các lý do vì sao Take2 nên thuộc về họ:
Trích dẫn:
# EA believes that Take-Two's current share price already reflects investor expectations for a strong release of GTA IV as well as the longer-term issues that Take-Two faces. Once GTA IV ships, Take-Two will again be dependent on less-popular titles and face increasing challenges to compete with larger and better-capitalized competitors.
# With GTA IV shipping on April 29, development on this important title must now be essentially complete. We believe now is the right time to complete a transaction with minimal disruption for Take-Two.
Câu chuyện vẫn còn tiếp diễn, kết cục chưa thể biết nhưng cá nhân mình chả ưa việc sát nhập này. Take2 là Take2, vẫn sở hữu những thương hiệu lớn và vẫn thu nhiều lợi nhuận, tội gì phải chung chạ với EA. Tưởng tượng 1 ngày GTA sẽ dán mác EA(R* bị đá đít), mỗi năm ra 1 phiên bản chất lượng tồi, tự dưng thấy buồn..
các bạn có thể tham khảo thêm tại đây: http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=295739
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EricVN · 25/2/08

đề nghị 2 tỷ đô cho một hãng có nhiều tựa game nổi tiếng và hút tiền như Take Two thì chắc mới là đòn thăm dò của EA.

minhtri595 · 25/2/08

Cái này giống vụ M$-Yahoo đây
giá 2 tỉ là quá rẻ luôn
EA muốn tạo liên minh chống lại Activision-Vivendi đây

Nomurasan · 25/2/08

Yes, T2 chắc chắn là một ông lớn, cai giá 2 bil là chưa đủ
Nhưgn nếu EA mua dc T2 thì EA khiếp quá

BBL2R · 25/2/08

Take Two chẳng phải nhỏ đâu mà dễ dàng bị EA mua. Dưới trướng Take Two cũng nhiều em lắm.

kenshin51089 · 25/2/08

EA mà mua T2 rồi thì GTA sẽ bắn ko ra máu nữa và sẽ đựoc dán nhãn T

Soul Revanous · 26/2/08

và rồi mỗi năm sẽ có 1 bản GTA và có thêm hàng chục bản exp khác như the sim, mỗi bản sẽ có thêm 1 vài loại ô tô + vài cái nhà hay con đg khác để đi

gct_shop · 26/2/08

T2 đâu phải dễ dàng nhường lại với giá 2b $. Công nhận EA xem nhẹ T2 quá rồi, mà nếu như rơi vào tay EA nhưng vẫn do các nhà phát triển cũ làm game thì còn được( EA tuột xuống hàng thứ 2 đang tức lắm đây).

BBL2R · 26/2/08

EA mà mua Take Two thì sẽ có 1 bản GTA + NFS. Cách chơi action kiểu GTA và lái xe của NFS, oh yeah!

legendary_dragon · 26/2/08

có vẻ EA quá tự tin , T2 mà có 2b

Yuyupho · 26/2/08

thế giới càng ngày càng ít cực :) cuối cùng chỉ còn Activion và EA đập nhau :)

Sonix · 26/2/08

LEE nói: ↑

EA mà mua Take Two thì sẽ có 1 bản GTA + NFS. Cách chơi action kiểu GTA và lái xe của NFS, oh yeah!
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Vậy nếu GTA + Burnout thì sao?

Nomurasan · 26/2/08

thế giới càng ngày càng ít cực :) cuối cùng chỉ còn Activion và EA đập nhau :)
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Cũng không hẳn cậu ạ, thằng Ubisoft cũng không thể xem thường

EA mà mua T2 rồi thì GTA sẽ bắn ko ra máu nữa và sẽ đựoc dán nhãn T
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Cậu chĩ dc cái vui tính, EA thiếu gì game Mature

Aasa · 26/2/08

...nếu thế sẽ có các tựa game mới như Speed for Grand Thief hay Burn Grand Thief Out v.v...với cách chơi pha trộn chắc ch8a1n sẽ làm nhiều game thủ say mê...

Yuyupho · 26/2/08

Cũng không hẳn cậu ạ, thằng Ubisoft cũng không thể xem thường
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nghe nói EA cũng tính thôn tính Ubisoft luôn mà

yugi_hiro · 26/2/08

đc mới sợ ...
mà ko chơi trò gán ghép tựa game như dạo nọ nhé

Aasa · 26/2/08

Yuyupho nói: ↑

nghe nói EA cũng tính thôn tính Ubisoft luôn mà
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Vậy thì EA còn phải nằm mơ dài dài...
ko chơi trò ghép tên là sao ku :'>...dự đoán thôi mà :'>

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EA với ý định thâu tóm Take-Two Interactive

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EA với ý định thâu tóm Take-Two Interactive

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