EA’s Take Two bid the most hostile in history

Leading financial observers are agreed: the video games industry has never seen an M&A move anywhere near as aggressive as Electronic Arts’ hostile bid for Take Two.

The fascinating story of EA CEO John Riccitiello’s one man mission to secure the acquisition took a further turn this week, as it emerged opportunistic market players have swept in to snap up stock of Take Two in the last month – and could challenge EA’s hostile tender bid of $26 per share.

EA went direct to Take Two’s shareholders with the offer last Thursday, after the publisher’s Board branded a $2 billion bid inadequate”.

This is the most aggressive approach for a publisher ever – there simply haven’t been hostile takeovers in the games space,” DFC Intelligence president David Cole told MCV.

I don’t recall ever seeing a hostile takeover in games,” added Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter. I think Take Two’s Board will try to squeeze more money out of EA by making this a friendly deal.”