This is getting pretty annoying and, what's even worse: it no longer surprises anybody. Yes, I'm talking here about Electronic Arts' desire to purchase Take Two. The short story is: EA keeps offering the same amount of money over and over again while Take Two rejects the same amount of money over and over again. Seems repetitive? Oh, yes, it is!

The long story is quite boring and, as I've said, it is no longer of big interest: Grand Theft Auto owners have rejected the third tender offer from EA: only 6,139,824 of Take-Two's outstanding shares, or approximately 7.9% of the total, tendered into Electronic Arts' offer as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on June 16, 2008. We know that, usually, any person rejected three times in a row by another, understands it's time to go away or, at least, change the offer. Well... it's not the same thing in the games industry, it seems, since EA has once again (for the fourth time if you care to count) extended its bid.

And, exactly as it happened with the previous three, Take Two's chairman, Strauss Zelnick, said that the offer undervalues the company: "Our Board of Directors remains in unanimous agreement that the proposal is contrary to the best interests of Take-Two stockholders, and the Board continues to recommend that stockholders not tender their shares to EA. The Board remains focused on the strategic process that began formally on April 30 to consider all alternatives to maximize value. We believe that these alternatives, which may include a business combination or remaining independent, will deliver greater value to stockholders than the current EA offer".

Well... at least that "business combination" is something new but we really doubt anything will happen soon. We know, there are rumors regarding a possible merger between Zelnick's company and Ubisoft, but it's a long shot. We'll keep you updated even though we're sure that the next thing we'll say on the matter will be "Take Two rejects fourth tender offer, EA extends it".