Since February of 2008, EA has set its sights on Take Two as a possible addition to the EA brand.
Electronic Arts offered a cool $2 billion for the company, but since then, Take Two has been playing it cagey and said the price wasn’t right. T2 was concerned that EA would be getting a "bargain" because the price didn’t account for the success of GTA IV.
After many extensions, EA has finally said, hasta la vista, baby, and walked out the door. Shares of Take Two, which have been hovering around $24-$26 per share, plummeted to $17 on word that EA had given up its chase of purchasing the company.
Although the management of Take Two refused the previous offers from EA, the majority of shareholders were in favor of the original deal. With the sudden downturn of Take Two shares, and the loss of EA as a buyer, there will probably be some serious shakeups at the offices of T2 coming soon.
For EA and Take Two, it was a lose-lose proposition.
[via Gamasutra]
