One month after Electronic Arts established another deadline for its unsolicited bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive, the offer has been rejected once more. An official announcement by EA is expected today, but we’re probably going to be looking at yet another deadline extension, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The unsolicited bid came to light on February 15, when EA offered $25 per share to Take-Two, and later $26 per share, a 50 percent premium offer totaling $2 billion. However, the offer has been rejected as inadequate and against the best interest of the Take-Two’s stockholders, as Take-Two Board Chairman Strauss Zelnick described it.
Considering Grand Theft Auto IV proved to be everything Take-Two has dreamed of, EA’s bid remained under the current value of the shares, which went up to $27.10, 5% above EA's offer. But as they wait for a better proposal, EA seems to think that the more they reject the idea, the bigger the value loss, which might compromise the transaction.
Take-Tow has been advising its shareholders to reject the hostile bid, but most analysts believe this is not the end of the story, as they foresee another extension. And although most of us expected EA to release a statement at the end of last week, there’s been absolutely no word on the future of the unsolicited bid.
If EA sees any delay as a devaluation, Take-Two believes the offer undervalues them now, as it did before, especially considering the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Furthermore, the long awaited game, officially launched at the end of April, has gone gold. Neither of the two companies was available for comments.