Video game publisher Electronic Arts has again extended its $2 billion tender offer to buy out Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive. EA is offering over $25 per share to investors in Take-Two in a bid to take over the company; Take-Two has repeatedly rejected the offer as too low, and has been urging its investors to stay away.
Apparently Take-Two’s investors agree with the company’s leadership: EA originally set out the offer back in February this is the fifth time EA has extended the deadline on its tender offer. To date, only about 11.7 million Take-Two shares have been entered into the tender offer, equivalent to about 15 percent of Take-Two’s outstanding shares. The new cut-off date is midnight eastern time, August 18.
In a new statement to investors, Take-Two chariman Strauss Zelnick continued to advise investors to stay clear of EA’s offer, while CEO Ben Feder talked up Grand Theft Auto and Take-Two’s other franchises as significant sources of future revenue: "In February, Take-Two’s board rejected EA’s offer as inadequate. Since then, the record-shattering release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the exciting announcement of a BioShock movie, and our ability to deliver financial results exceeding expectations have further demonstrated that our value-creation potential is greater than EA’s offer."
