According to an article at Next-Gen, Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners, speculated that EA’s bid for Take-Two could exceed $30 per share. This would increase the total amount by approximately $300 million to around $2.3 billion. Meanwhile, another analyst, Arvind Bhatia, suggested that the buyout would become hostile.
There have been two primary complaints coming out of Take-Two regarding the buyout offer: 1) the amount undervalues Take-Two’s worth and 2) the offer seems timed to unfairly take advantage of the Grand Theft Auto 4 launch. With a bid approaching nearly twice the pre-offer price of TTWO (approximately $17), such an extravagant offer would seem to address the first issue. As for the second issue, I’m not certain that the launch of GTA4 is the focus of EA’s bid. As has been discussed previously here and by analysts, with 2k Sports under EA control, the combined entity would hold an effective monopoly over sports video games. That premium stock price might end up being quite the bargain for EA.
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