Holy sweet mother of Strauss Zelnick! Is it the Ragnarök? Does this spell the end for all mankind? Probably not, but this may actually spell the end for one of the industry’s longest-running potential takeovers. EA announced this morning that they would be allowing their longstanding tender offer for shares of Take-Two Interactive to expire tonight, August 18th, at midnight. Take-Two subsequently announced a confirmation of this news, as part of a new negotiation which will be taking place behind closed doors, in which Take-Two will show EA some highly confidential information which will outline the company’s true value (somewhere above $25.74 per share). Can it be? Two companies will actually conduct business through formal negotiations instead of a series of underhanded financial attacks and ego-boosting press releases?
It gets even crazier. Take-Two will not only be making a presentation (under NDA) to EA about how awesome their company is, but the two companies are actually cooperating with eachother to get the negotiations underway quickly and smoothly. I don’t even know these companies anymore! And there’s more — Strauss Zelnick and John Riccitiello have been exchanging letters about the process, and the veiled insults are minimal. Minimal! Just read these:
“We understand that a number of months have passed since you first expressed interest in the Company and, accordingly, we will act quickly to assist you in moving through our process.”
“We continue to have great respect for Take-Two’s creative teams and products and are hopeful that we can work together to reach a mutually agreed transaction.”
“With my best personal regards.”
I’m telling you, there are pod people involved somehow. In all seriousness, though, this could finally lead to the acquisition we’re all still sick of talking about, assuming the FTC doesn’t get mad. Stay tuned!
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