Riccitiello: Take-Two bid was a waste of ink

EA CEO John Riccitiello has told the

Wall Street Journal

that his company’s bid for Take-Two was a waste of ink” and that it was intended to help the firm get through difficult times.

He added that EA walked away from the deal as time was of the essence, because we wanted to impact holiday 2008 sales of Grand Theft Auto IV”

The EA exec also summed up the pursuit of Take Two in typically pragmatic style: Take-Two told us to wait and that they wanted more money. We waited. We went through a variety of steps. The gap [in price] remained.”

Read the full piece here.