Take Two Interactive, the publishers of controversial games such as Grand Theft Auto and Bully, maybe putting up a "For Sale" sign outside its corporate offices soon if the recent turmoil continues, according to Bloomberg.com.
Take Two has been slammed with lawsuits, been investigated by the Federal Trade Commission for improper stock options schemes, pummeled to the ground by the press and politicians for the "hot coffee" incident, and found itself under fire for general mismanagement of the company. And now for the bad news–shareholders have staged a mutiny by announcing that they are planning to replace the current directors and managers. The company has had five straight quarters of losses, despite releases in the popular Grand Theft Auto series and Bully.
There have also been grumblings that Take Two should be sold. So who would want to buy out Take Two? The first thought in most people’s minds is Electronic Arts, which has had a long history of gobbling up game companies in order to take over their intellectual properties. EA has been frequently accused of having a "why make new stuff when you can just buy it?" attitude. Of course, even if EA were interested, it wouldn’t say so–which is exactly what happened. Jeff Brown of EA said, "We don’t comment on our acquisition strategy.”
