14 DAY TRIAL // If someone wants to make a soap opera set in the glamorous world of the videogame industry the subject they should tackle is Electronic Arts' attempt to take over Take Two. At first it seemed like love could blossom between these two. The first had the money and the publishing network, while the latter had the great game, Grand Theft Auto IV, which was soon to be released. But then it all turned sour as the dowry, aka the price per share offered by Electronic Arts for Take Two, was not high enough. Hard words were exchanged and the love that could have been turned into hatred.
Since March, when its offer became hostile, Electronic Arts has encountered nothing but setbacks in its Take Two bid. As GTA IV was released, the price of Take Two shares jumped over the price offered by EA. Strauss Zelnick, chairman at Take Two, then announced that only a fraction of shareholders had backed the offer and said that his company was talking to other interested parties about possible collaborations. And then the Securities and Exchange Commission began to question whether a takeover would lead to a monopoly, especially in the field of sports games, where the only direct competitor EA has comes from 2K Sports.
Electronic Arts has cleared one of the hurdles. The company now says that it is "in substantial compliance" with the information requests that came from the SEC and the Federal Trade Commission. As a direct result, the 2 billion dollar hostile takeover offer will remain in effect after the earlier mentioned deadline of July 18 passes. Shareholders are unlikely to be persuaded now, more than three months after the offer was originally presented, but Electronic Arts hates to be defeated so the fact that the offer is still on the market is probably proof of stubbornness rather than of business intelligence.