Take Two stockholder meeting today
April 17, 2008 by pastapadre
The annual Take Two stockholder meeting is scheduled to take place later today beginning at 6:30et/3:30pt. You’ll be able to listen in live here. Normally this would just be business as usual however the looming takeover attempt by EA is prominent. Potentially something dramatic could happen such as a new board being elected (it happened last year) that is open to the bid. Or the stockholders could vote in a poison pill that would make it more difficult for EA to succeed at least at the current bid of $26 per share.
The deadline that has been placed on the EA offer which had been extended to expire at the end of the day tomorrow has essentially been extended further. The FTC has made a second request for more information on the potential transaction. It isn’t expected that there will be any difficulty with an anti-competitive ruling. This is especially true after the recent Sirius-XM merger was cleared which could’ve signaled that some hurdles would’ve been ahead if it hadn’t.
At the very least it should be interesting, whether something dramatic happens or nothing at all. A resolution one way or the other will occur soon.
In other (and possibly related) news it appears that Take Two/2K Sports has delayed Top Spin 3 from its May 20th release date to June 24th. It could simply be a coincidence. Yet 2K Sports has no games currently scheduled to release between now and Prizefighter on June 10th. That could present a comfortable buffer for any transition that would take place with an EA purchase of the company. Combined with the end of the College Hoops franchise and no All-Pro Football the overall 2K Sports lineup has really thinned out. The main concentration surrounding an EA takeover would obviously center around Grand Theft Auto IV initially.
Check back for any updates out of the stockholder meeting during or following its completion.
Update: Nothing of much significance came out of the meeting other than the further declaration that the Take Two board believes the offered share price is below value for the company. Further developments are sure to arise in the coming days.
im going to listen in even though itll probably end up being really boring. i just want things to happen if that means the sale is done or ea gives up i hate the uncertainty around everything
TTI R.I.P. 4/17/08
Lets get that MVP 09 game out……..Chop Chop
I would really miss 2k Hoops. Pasta, I don’t wanna sound dumb, but would there be any individual talent kept from the 2k b-ball team? I would hate to have Live and March Madness be my ONLY choices next year. I am really getting used to MLB2k’s controls but would lovingly invite MVP back w/open arms!!! Imagine EA baseball with OTP-
uhuh.
r00tabaga wrote:
I would imagine that some would be kept and others wouldn’t. Its really hard to say how EA would handle the full transition though. They haven’t made specific plans clear and won’t until they would have secured control.
pastapadre wrote:
I haven’t been keeping up with this whole fiasco, but has there been any indication at all that today’s meeting will be all about Take Two handing the keys over the EA?
I saw something that said that GTA IV is expected to pull in $400mil in FIRST WEEK sales. It seems like that game could save the company. But if this goes through, that gives them 2 weeks to get EA stickers attached to all of the GTA boxes. That’s the real prize here. GTA will probably generate a billion dollars before it’s all over, especially with DL content expected in the future.
I’m pretty sure that EA doesn’t really give a rats-heinie about the 2k sports franchises. They had already effectively quashed that bug.
I did play a little APF last night for the first time in a couple of months. Man… I’m gonna miss those guys.
Darkheath wrote:
On the contrary this is ALL about 2K Sports. 2K Sports has been upstaging EA Sports year after year after year after year after year after year. Now with Prizefighter it’s even going to be worse for EA Sports. EA could care less about GTA 4.
The Saint wrote:
youre kidding right? the only game which sells better for 2K is NBA 2K8 (but if you count the PS2 then Live outsells it in total). that is 2k sports only profitable game. I dont think ea is worried about prizefighter when fight night sells millions upon millions. theres nba, nhl, mlb, top spin, and prizefighter. not exactly a powerhouse lineup tho ea would surely like to be rid of them all together. gta is going to sell an amazing amount it will outsell the whole 2k sports lineup combined by far in preorders alone
I have a question Pasta. First of all this is a cool article, appreciate the info here. I’m definitely going to check this out even if nothing happens. My question is, and I know I’ve been on this for weeks, if this happens today should we give up on a roster update for MLB 2K8? Just wondering since the opening day roster has yet to be released (three and a half weeks into the season). Just an opinion even would be great here, thanks.
Ryan wrote:
I wouldn’t expect something like that to change. You’d have to remember that EA would be taking on those titles even in post release so they would likely still be concerned about customer satisfaction as well as visibily displaying how the support and atomosphere around the titles will change under their reign. They would be counting on those who purchased MLB 2K8 to do so with their next baseball release (whether that is a follow up to 2K8 or a brand new one).
Which brings me to my next point…WHERE THE “f” IS THE ***DAMN 2k OPENING DAY ROSTER DOWNLOAD!!!!!!! Half of my Reds aren’t even with the team anymore…
Saint… Lenny is right. GTA IV has ALREADY outsold every 2K sports title this year all added together. And it hasn’t even been released yet! GTA is set to shatter Halo 3’s record week which was already second behind the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie to be the highest grossing entertainment release in the history of mankind. GTA is expected to eclipse even Jack Sparrow by a large margin.
No… EA is after Take Two… not 2k Sports. That’s just an added bonus for them.
They are also going after UbiSoft… which also includes some of my favorite titles including the entire Tom Clancy lineup.
I wonder how many companies they will have to gobble up before someone sics the government monopoly watchdogs on them.
r00tabaga wrote:
Yes! I’m a Reds fan too. No Cueto yet? It’s insane. Half the team doesn’t have player pictures too, which I heard are coming in the next update.
Thanks Pasta for getting back to me on that. When I read your article I got worried. Let’s hope that EA cares more about customer satisfaction than 2K does if this deal goes down.
The fate of the free world rides on this meeting.
Ok, maybe not.
But the possibility of 2K Sports disappearing is almost depressing. The thought of NFL 2K10 was so nice before it was announced that EA extended the contract. Having an APF 2K9 would help soften the blow.
Well guys, keep hold of your copies of CH 2K8 and NBA 2K8 because they may well be the last decent basketball titles released in some time.
Ryan wrote:
EA knows PR, but the true test of how much a company truly cares about its customers is with its products. In this respect EA fails. They are the biggest, and the less competition they have, the less reasons they have to improve their games. EA Sports is the biggest proof of this when you have games like Madden 08 having a completely broken season mode. FNR3 was also a big joke. EA sold that game through the slo-mo facial ripples. The gameplay itself is not representative of the sweet science, it was horse manure. NBA Live series is also a joke. 2K Sports is the thorn on EA’s side, make no mistake about it. EA will do just fine without the GTA franchise. If that’s what they were truly after they should’ve started the whole buyout many months ago. Surely, they could’ve anticipated how big GTA 4 would be. So they wait until the cat’s out of the bag before they make their offer? Prizefighter will be(or would’ve been if the takeover is successful)the stake through EA’s heart once 2K makes a statement to prove its superiority over EA.
2K Sports is no competition for EA, just check the sales they are in no way threatened by them, name one way.
Da Birthday Boy wrote:
How about NBA 2K and NBA Live? 2K sports may not be the major reason behind the take over, but they ARE a reason. It’s not just message boards stating this either, it’s financial analysts. EA were not happy at all that 2K were able to find a loop hole to release their own pro football title - regardless of how it sold. They are paying a truck load of cash for the NFL license.
The Saint wrote:
Are you kidding????
People love to bring up EA’s sales:
Da Birthday Boy wrote:
2K Sports is no competition for EA, just check the sales they are in no way threatened by them, name one way.
EA’s sales are good on some games. Their PC versions of their Madden and Live games are less than steller. Although Madden on PC plays great, Live on PC has been CRAP. Live in general is CRAP. Since 06 EA’s game have been filled with bugs, glitches, bad animation and clippings from a company that is so big they dont put out QUALITY.
NLSC forums had to write a letter to EA complaining about Live. Reviews of Live have been in the dumps. EA prides itself on sales, and not quality.
Why did EA drop Madden and Live on PC BDay boy? Please answer this one, and do bring up sales in your argument, as well as quality.
I wish I could find that link where EA was not happy that 2k released APF, they were not happy at all. If anyone has that link please post it, for those that havent read it.
EA knows they are 2nd fiddle when it comes to NBA games. They already have the license for NFL, all some company needs to do is make a fully customizable football game, and Im sure people will buy that if the gameplay is stellar. If APF was fully customizable and had a franchise Im sure it would do a lot better that what APF did, but the fact that people wen tout and bought APF, EA has to look at this and have concern over their exclusive since people are buying other football games.
Ryan wrote:
Nope not at all.
The Saint wrote:
Take 2 has posted 2 consecutive years of financial losses. Take 2 is struggling. Take 2 is nothing more than a fly on an elephants a$$.
TTI is just stalling in effort to drive the price up before they sell. Get it through your head 2k fanboys. This deal will go through eventually.
This is about money not games. Can you comprehend that?
i forgot to mention that the deal isn’t happening, and EA loses