14 DAY TRIAL // A Forbes report mentions the fact that France-based videogames publisher Ubisoft could be interested in talking about some sort of association with Take Two, as the company seems out of the reach of Electronic Arts.
Strauss Zelnick, the chairman of the Take Two board, has repeatedly said that he is open to talking to all interested parties regarding a potential takeover of Take Two. Even if the offer made by Electronic Arts has been deemed too low to create interest among shareholders, other large companies, such as Activision or Ubisoft, could put together a better offer.
Ubisoft seems to be an especially interesting fit for Take Two because of the way their videogame markets complement each other. Even with the recent phenomenal growth and the desire to expand into media cross-overs and into movies, Ubisoft cannot compete in the sports based videogame market because it lacks a solid sports division. It could, of course, build it from the ground up, but this would take time and would not necessarily guarantee success.
On the other hand, Take Two has 2K Sports as a dedicated sports division and Ubisoft could take it and make it an asset. And the French company would surely benefit from taking over the lucrative Grand Theft Auto franchise.
Rumors of a possible deal have been fueled by the fact that Yves Guillemot, the Chief Executive Officer at Ubisoft, has declared that, currently, the company has around 1.2 billion dollars set aside for acquisitions.
Some analysts, like Todd Greenwald from Signal Hill, think that a deal between Ubisoft and Take Two is certainly possible. Greenwald says that "Ubisoft has grown phenomenally over the past few years, but the only way for them to continue to grow is to enter categories that they aren't in."
Neither one of the companies has offered an official position regarding the rumors but, as the final deadline for Electronic Arts' hostile takeover is fast approaching, expect to hear more from both Ubisoft and Take Two.