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EA Submits Proposal to Purchase Take Two


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Why does everyone say their favourite 2K games will come to an end with the buyout. EA will now have control over the gameplay of both companies and will be able to utilize them both.
Yeah but with no competition EA can f*** them up any way they want and people will buy them.
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Raptor ... I read your original post over again ... I missed that you posted that. I wasn't really saying anything in response to the part of the post i quoted other than to provide some information for those interested regarding the companies' values (with a direct link to their current prices)and I just didn't want to quote the whole post but if I did, I would have realized that you already posted that. And I wouldn't have posted that. Yes, I'm aware what NASDAQ is and am familiar with some but not all of the Stock Exchanges. Anyways ... I guess I was too carried away and busy with reading stories on NewsCorp that I forgot about the information you provided.

BTW ... that was a really good insightful post. Thanks.

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cool, meteamo! Also - when I re-read my own post, I realized I sounded like a d-bag saying "you DO realize blah blah blah" - sorry, didn't mean to do that.

Either way... it's unfortunate that financial goals of the companies can't coincide with the notional "gamer goals" too - the customers they are catering to. lol. that's business for you, I guess.

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I honestly would love to see EA taking over 2K, for me the 3 biggest sports games that are produced have and had been released by EA, i am referring to the FIFA series, the NHL Series and MVP, even if they decide to go with consoles only i think that the possibilities a game like MVP could have in a next gen system are very well near endless, and maybe since they still have their college license we might see the revival of the MVP series and MVP's little brother on MVP College baseball, which would finally make the existence of the college game valid. As for the rest i don't really care much for Madden or NBA Live, however what is in my opinion the best basketball game would be lost but it's a sacrifice i am willing to make to see MVP Baseball back.

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That's cool Raptor. NP ... it's all on the up and up .... it's a bull eat bear world out there. :lol:

It seems that people are agreeing that Take Two should actually take the offer. But, would this be a financially sound investment for EA?

Would Take Two be another ache in EA's head just like some of the other companies EA tried this with? Have the other companies made any money for them? If you were a shareholder in EA, would you see any value in offering Take Two 2 billion let alone anyting at all? I'm just thankful I don't need to decide either way. But imagine if you had stake in both companies ...

However, as a baseball pc fan, I would love this to happen. On the business side of things, I'm skeptical. There may be a better chance of a Mets / Cards NLCS. :loco:

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is getting closer for Take2 to be taking a dive. Check out this article right here. Maybe this means that we'll have a new PC game in our hands one year from now? Let's just hope.

Take-Two shareholders slash stakes

By Scott Hillis 2 hours, 26 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The two biggest owners of shares in Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) said on Monday they drastically cut their stakes in the video game publisher, potentially undermining management's stance that a $1.9 billion buyout offer from Electronic Arts is too low.

U.S. mutual fund company Oppenheimer Funds, Take-Two's biggest shareholder, halved its holdings to 8.8 million shares, or 11.5 percent, down from the 23 percent stake it held previously, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

FMR LLC, the parent company for the Fidelity mutual funds that was the second-largest owner of Take-Two shares, also reported that it had slashed its stake to 2.75 percent from 14.7 percent.

"To the extent there was speculation that shareholders would band together and hold out for more money from EA, that's kind of shot down now," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

"They are voting on this deal and they are voting with their feet. They know they have no leverage," Pachter said.

The company is seeing other signs of shareholder unrest.

A shareholder lawsuit in a Delaware court accuses Take-Two management of "breaches of fiduciary duty" for refusing to explore EA's offer, arranging a large payout for executives if the company is acquired, and other matters, according to court documents seen on Monday.

Shares in Take-Two fell 2.8 percent to close at $24.85 on Nasdaq. Neither Oppenheimer nor FMR said why they sold their shares, and Take-Two declined to comment on the sales.

Two weeks ago, Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) said Take-Two, which makes the lucrative "Grand Theft Auto" games, had spurned its purchase offer of $26 a share that was a 50 percent premium to the stock's previous closing price.

Take-Two management said EA's offer was too low given that it was on the cusp of launching "Grand Theft Auto IV." The new game goes on sale April 29 and is expected to retail for $60.

Take-Two, which is set to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, also said last week that it had adopted a separate severance plan for employees who might get fired in the event the company was bought.

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U.S. mutual fund company Oppenheimer Funds, Take-Two's biggest shareholder, halved its holdings to 8.8 million shares, or 11.5 percent, down from the 23 percent stake it held previously, according to U.S. regulatory filings.

FMR LLC, the parent company for the Fidelity mutual funds that was the second-largest owner of Take-Two shares, also reported that it had slashed its stake to 2.75 percent from 14.7 percent.

so who bought 23.45% of T2, if they sold someone had to buy. Could it be EA?

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http://www.mercurynews.com/businessupdate/ci_8522954

Take-Two tremors: The videogame industry continues to reverberate from Electronic Arts' $2 billion buyout bid for Take-Two Interactive Software.

Patrick Solomon, an investor with New York-based Take-Two, widely known for its Grand Theft Auto game, has sued that company for rejecting the offer by Electronic Arts of Redwood City.

Solomon, who filed the complaint Friday, also asked the Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington to enforce stockholders' rights to elect directors at an annual meeting scheduled for April 10.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessupdate/ci_8522954

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A large majority of the shares probably went to other mutual funds, and private investors - perhaps a gread deal to those looking to sell short (i.e., betting on the company's shares to drop in value), but losing a primary stake in a fund as wide-spread and popular as Oppenheimer Funds (which is a prefered fund family member at Edward Jones) is a big-time hit for Take Two to take. Again.

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The 52-week high for Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) is $24.80. Get this: The 52-week low? $11.82. They last traded at $17.36 That's a really big swing in just 52-weeks (74.8% of current trading price). This shows Take Two is not a solid horse to bet on, if you're a stock trader that values any kind of stability.

Now, weeks later?

TTWO last traded at $24.85. The new 52-week high is $27.61. (The 52-week low remains $11.82)

TTWO closed down -$0.72 from the previous day's trading.

So, in the midst of all this unhappy-investor news... the stock actually hit a high for the past 52-weeks (13 months).

Kind of odd, except...

LINK: http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/03/big...ling_out-2.html

Two of Take-Two Interactive's biggest investors, Oppenheimer Funds and FMR LLC, drastically cut their shares in the company, Reuters reports, a sign of "shareholder unrest" that could be bad news for company management. After a rejected buyout offer from EA was made public, it helped boost the Grand Theft Auto publisher's stock price nine points in one day, making for some assuredly pleased stockholders. But now that Take-Two management have claimed the buyout terms "undervalue" the company, shareholders may be unwilling to wait for a dip in their investment.

So what's the damage?

According to Reuters, Oppenheimer cut its stake in T2 by half, with FMR LLC dropping its 14.75% ownership of the company down to 2.75%. That's approximately 8.8 million and 2 million shares, respectively, with neither firm giving reason for the sale.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is quoted as saying that a speculated shareholder holdout for better buyout terms may be out of the question, now that two of the bigger owners of Take-Two are bailing out.

Take-Two is planning to announce its quarterly earning on Tuesday, so we'll see what developments occur soon enough.

I didn't notice in the first post that First Mercury Financial Corporation also reduced their exposure in TTWO so drastically as well.

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I wonder what the earliest EA would try to put an MLB game out would be? Would they even attempt to rush a ported version of MVP for midseason in an attempt to recoup some cost right away? Would they simply just wait another calendar year to release a new version of the MVP engine? Are they going to continue the craptastic MLB2K?

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I wonder what the earliest EA would try to put an MLB game out would be? Would they even attempt to rush a ported version of MVP for midseason in an attempt to recoup some cost right away? Would they simply just wait another calendar year to release a new version of the MVP engine? Are they going to continue the craptastic MLB2K?

Here's my guess, I'm going to assume that ea will buy out 2k a week after the gta release. Then, ea will discontinue the 2k baseball series and start another ea baseball game (probably won't be called mvp) on a shorter production time frame. They should just wait a year like nhl 07 did, at look how the nhl series came out now, and then we will find another awesome ea baseball game to date.

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Well, when EA went next gen with Tiger Woods, they made a barebones game to get it out quickly and get the brand availible on the new systems. I was wondering if they'd try to simply port the MVP engine to 360 and PS3 with some updated stadiums, uniforms and face scans just to get the game out there.

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Half of you have not even played a single game of 2k baseball, so really should just withhold views of the game.

2k craptastic? nba 2k8 was one of the best basketball sims ever made, out of the box with no slider adjustment. mlb 2k8 is actually a really fun game, and if 2k releases a patch to correct the continuous profile loading problem, the game will play at 60 fps and play just as good if not better than the show, and it also has a better, more inventive pitching mechanism.

so I really dont want to hear it if you have a grudge against 2K because EA provoked the whole liscensing war with madden and the nfl liscencing, 2K makes quality games, and I believe EA will screw everyone if they are basically the only sports game maker (beside sony and the show).

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Half of you have not even played a single game of 2k baseball, so really should just withhold views of the game.

2k craptastic? nba 2k8 was one of the best basketball sims ever made, out of the box with no slider adjustment. mlb 2k8 is actually a really fun game, and if 2k releases a patch to correct the continuous profile loading problem, the game will play at 60 fps and play just as good if not better than the show, and it also has a better, more inventive pitching mechanism.

so I really dont want to hear it if you have a grudge against 2K because EA provoked the whole liscensing war with madden and the nfl liscencing, 2K makes quality games, and I believe EA will screw everyone if they are basically the only sports game maker (beside sony and the show).

Who the heck do you think you are? You have been provoking everyone lately, in threads, in the ShoutBox, etc. This thread is for talk on the possible 2K takeover. This website is for MVP Baseball 2005....an EASports game?

Put two and two together Timay.

If you don't like all the pro EASports talk, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

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What happens when 2K gets acquired by EA? Simple. A new baseball game gets made, our existing utilities will most likely not work, since a lot of them are designed for existing EA formats since Triple Play 99. Plus, sports games won't benefit from this.

EA would have a kung-fu grip on sports gaming and would most likely rickroll us with $60 dollar games and $4.99 DLC.

If you're a heartless company then I guess buying another company that's on the verge of releasing one of the most anticipated games in history is the way to go. Talk about a cash-grab.

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What happens when 2K gets acquired by EA? Simple. A new baseball game gets made, our existing utilities will most likely not work, since a lot of them are designed for existing EA formats since Triple Play 99. Plus, sports games won't benefit from this.

Are you saying if EA releases a new baseball game that our mods here won't be compatible with it? Chances are it might. Probably these modders would take it as a new challenge to mod a new baseball game. At least this is what I think you are saying.

EA would have a kung-fu grip on sports gaming and would most likely rickroll us with $60 dollar games and $4.99 DLC.

DLC?

If you're a heartless company then I guess buying another company that's on the verge of releasing one of the most anticipated games in history is the way to go. Talk about a cash-grab.

And what game is that? I don't really follow 2k at all since the last game I had from them was Major League baseball 2k5 World Series Edition, which was a total waste of money. I'm still kicking myself for buying that.

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Are you saying if EA releases a new baseball game that our mods here won't be compatible with it? Chances are it might. Probably these modders would take it as a new challenge to mod a new baseball game. At least this is what I think you are saying.

Because they would most likely also acquire the sports division , I'm sure they will not use the same format to create textures and such. Our mods won't be compatible, plus, if I remember clearly, Kraw found it impossible to edit a 2K baseball file. Like I said before, the tools we currently use to edit are compatible with EA textures as far back as Triple Play 99, and they work with almost every EA Sports title. Acquiring the assets of 2K Sports will change everything.

DLC?

Downloadable content. They have a habit of charging far too much for things that are already on the CD, so in away you are purchasing an encryption code to use things that you already bought.

In layman's terms, let's say you bought MVP Baseball 2009 on the XBOX360. The game itself costs $59.99. You are already convinced that you've paid full price for a game and all the goodies that come with it, until you realize that you have to pay $4.99 or something close just to unlock a team's throwback uniforms. From what I know with EA games, that throwback uniform would be included on the disc, but would need to be unlocked using a special key.

That special key = $4.99

$4.99 = Downloadable Content.

And what game is that? I don't really follow 2k at all since the last game I had from them was Major League baseball 2k5 World Series Edition, which was a total waste of money. I'm still kicking myself for buying that.

Grand Theft Auto IV

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:|

Half of you have not even played a single game of 2k baseball, so really should just withhold views of the game.

May I have a look at the survey you conducted to come to this conclusion? :roll:

2k craptastic? nba 2k8 was one of the best basketball sims ever made, out of the box with no slider adjustment. mlb 2k8 is actually a really fun game, and if 2k releases a patch to correct the continuous profile loading problem, the game will play at 60 fps and play just as good if not better than the show, and it also has a better, more inventive pitching mechanism.

so I really dont want to hear it if you have a grudge against 2K because EA provoked the whole liscensing war with madden and the nfl liscencing, 2K makes quality games, and I believe EA will screw everyone if they are basically the only sports game maker (beside sony and the show).

You are the only one I know that purports this grudge, time and time again, on various video game sites. No one else even talks about it but you alone. Take it easy. :|

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