EA's acquisition bid for Take-Two expires
Electronic Arts' hostile bid for Grand Theft Auto producer Take-Two Interactive appears to have ended quietly this week.
Shortly after EA failed to make an attractive-enough offer, Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto IV shattered all-time launch sales records, lending support to Chairman Zelnick's argument that the bid undervalued the company.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)The game maker, whose reduced acquisition bid of $25.74 a share was rejected as inadequate last month, had set Friday as the extended deadline for it to buy up Take-Two's shares. The day came and went without action regarding the takeover from either company.
The updated offer, rejected by Take-Two on April 18, continued to be inadequate and undesirable, according to Chairman Strauss Zelnick at the time. "It undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues Take-Two at $25.74."
Since then, the record-breaking launch of Grand Theft Auto IV has likely proven Zelnick correct, with first-week sales of $500 million. The game sold 3.6 million copies its first day on the market, shattering the previous all-time launch sales record held by Microsoft's Halo 3.
Take-Two shares were priced slightly above $27 in after-hours trading Saturday morning.
"There is nothing going on right now," Take-Two spokeswoman Meg Maise told AFP on Friday afternoon. "It is in (EA's) court."
Zoë Slocum is copy chief of CNET News and manager of the CNET Blog Network. She joined CNET in 2003, after two years at a travel start-up. She started in San Francisco, was based in the Boston bureau for four years, and is now back in the Bay Area. E-mail Zoë. 
