Electronic Arts has extended its offer to buy Take Two for the third time. The prior bid expired on , May 16th,but this offer gives Take Two until June 16th to negotiate a deal.
Surprisingly, EA has not raised its bid. "EA's offer price remains unchanged at $25.74 per share," EA VP of corporate development Owen Mahoney said in a statement. "Our offer is still subject to conditions that include regulatory approval. As stated earlier, we retain the right to terminate the offer if the conditions are not satisfied."
Take Two's president Strauss Zelnick responded:
"This is the same highly conditional proposal that EA offered Take-Two stockholders on March 13, 2008, which our board of directors thoroughly reviewed and unanimously determined to be inadequate and contrary to the best interests of Take-Two's stockholders...As such, the recommendation of our board of directors that stockholders not tender their shares to EA remains unchanged."
Ben Feder, Take-Two's Chief Executive Officer, added, "EA's highly conditional offer fails to compensate our stockholders for our exceptional portfolio of intellectual property, world-class creative resources, and our successful revitalization initiatives."
As of Friday night, 8% of Take Two shares have been tendered in the offer.
