14 DAY TRIAL // The past week was pretty quiet regarding the Electronic Arts - Take Two tender offer, but things will definitely change today (or, at most, tomorrow) since this is the day when the GTA franchise owners meet to decide the company's future. Even more, EA's offer of $26 per share expires tomorrow right before midnight. Even if it seems natural for the shareholders to reject the tender offer, at the moment it is uncertain whether they really do so or not, since previous reports showed us that some of the most important Take Two share holders have sold huge amounts.
Take Two is still quiet and says nothing about a possible decision, but it is known that during the meeting which will take place later today, investors will vote on a plan to award Take-Two's management company, ZelnickMedia, 1.5 million shares. If that were established, it would be clear that Electronic Arts' acquisition plans might go wrong and a future acquisition would kind of be out of the question.
Now, the current offer from EA of $26 per share no longer seems a good one, since yesterday Take Two's share price has risen to $26.09. And analysts think that prices could go up even more, with Grand Theft Auto 4 being so close to launch and sales of $400 million in the first week being predicted.
Of course Electronic Arts took into consideration such a rise in Take Two's stock - and that is probably the reason why, even though their tender offer expires tomorrow at midnight, the giants serves the right to extend the offer period, or increase the offer. Again, analysts estimate that, if today's shareholders meeting results in a "No-no" for Electronic Arts, the latter might increase the offer to as much as $30 per share.
Stay tuned with Softpedia, we'll keep you updated on the matter.