Posted Mar 26, 2008 at 11:38AM by Glen D. Listed in: Opinions & Analysis Tags: Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Michael Pachter
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EA logo - Image 1Take-Two Interactive surprised a lot of people by not letting itself get bought up by rival Electronic Arts, but not everyone is impressed. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, for one, says the decision is a mistake.

"We think that the Board has virtually no chance of finding a better offer," says the analyst. "this deal... makes more sense for EA than for any other company, primarily because of the synergies from consolidation of the two companies' sports businesses."

Pachter understands that Take-Two is banking on the imminent success of its main attraction Grand Theft Auto 4 (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) next month, but says that the publisher's decision not to sell is "naive at best". He adds that Take-Two's US$ 17 per share value won't be able to come close to EA's US$ 26 per share offer even after GTA 4 goes out.

Further, Pachter says that if Take-Two settled for a friendly deal, EA might have given an additional US$ 1 on each share just to sweeten the deal. Now, he says that if EA ever decides to come back to the negotiating table post GTA 4, they'll be offering Take-Two lower rates.

Pachter acknowledges that EA is being opportunistic about the whole matter, but he sees it as a beneficial situation to both companies. He concludes that Take-Two may end up losing more money in the future as an effect of today's decisions.

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16 Comments


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   by GW2 - 2008-03-26
 » SHUT UP PACHTER!

seriously, it doesnt matter if they would have gotten a bunch of money, they stand by their work! they are proud of what they do, they dont want EA to limit their creativity. pachter your job is entirely useless, i want to be a market analyst too, so i can state the obvious, of course they arent going to get a better offer, but they seem fin the way they are.


   Re: Godluvsugly - 2008-03-26
 » Totaly agree

EA and Take-Two as companies may both stand to profit from a buy out... but that same deal will screw the consumer. we dont' need a GTA 2009, 2010, 2011. EA puts out about .5 quality titles a year and about 300 pieces of *****! if for some reason satan should see fit to grease the wheels on this deal and Take-Two gives in, i hope beyond all hope that rockstar jumps ship! EA may be the biggest third party publisher out there, but they're also the worst! hold out take-two is $10 stock price worth losing all credibility? i say no!

   Re: GW2 - 2008-03-26
 » honestly,

it would make our days much less stressful if you didnt post any articles about pachter, hes an idiot, and a monkey could do his job. seeing as i kind of look monkeyish, i'll take the job, lots of money no work!

   Re: damonous - 2008-03-26
 » More power to TakeTwo!

Take That, EA! I'm seriously tired of big conglomerates coming in and eating-up smaller companies, putting out mostly crap, and then trying to claim that their being 'heroic' somehow by seizing a company while it's vulnerable...and then some pond-scum low-life like Pachter cheering them on for it. Some people think that America is only about opportunity, but it was also built upon perseverence. I hope that Take Two stays strong and continues to fight-off corporate takeovers. Don't get me wrong: I just bought 'Army of Two', but in general EA puts out some pretty generic, 'safe' properties. They are a far cry from the creative roots of their early Genesis + 3DO days. They used to be a lot like ....Take Two.

   Re: xche78x - 2008-03-27
 » fact

people hating michael pachter for saying this are idiots.
first and foremost pachter is a business analyst, and secondly a casual family gamer.
his first and foremost concern is the financial system of a company.
before you kids thought about it, he has thought about it a thousand times, he knows take2 in the hands of EA would be a general monopolization of games, specially in sports titles. he knows what will be the outcome but it is NOT his job to defend the gamers pride. HE IS MERELY STATING OUT WHAT HE PERSONALLY THINKS OF THE SITUATION and who may end up getting what.

suffice to say i am very happy that take2 is still its own company, innovating games in each and every release, whereas the quality of EA has dumbed down consecutively for example the need for speed series, underground 1 was ok, underground 2 was great, most wanted is average, carbon was ok, and the nfs pro street is both dumb and stupid. what next for EA's NFS?

no one is to be blamed, this things happens because business work in many ways and this is just one of em. big companies eating small ones had been going on since the very first days of trading history.
   by Binary - 2008-03-26
 » US$ 1 on each share

a dollar? Nobody cant live with a dollar.

I go with the person above me.......STFU YOU NOT TAKING GTA ALIVE!!!


   Re: sycoblast - 2008-03-26
 » not to be rude

umm do you know how shares work because thats a dollar ontop of every share, so its alot of money.

However I'm happy that they didn't accept the deal, don't need god quality games to go to the drain
   by SikWitThiz - 2008-03-26
 » Pachter stupid

I think they would have regretted moving to EA because EA has done nothing short of killing their own successful sports games and most of their other format games. Madden & Live are a prime example. Those were their 2 most played and bought games throughout the 90's and in the early 2000's. Now they have lost that because of the lack of creativity and reusing the same lame a$$ idea's each year. GTA is a excellent title and would have suffer horribly and possibly would have lost most of its fans with this move once they released another GTA title after EA would have bought them. EA needs to get their shiznit together.

   by Kingofdaberbz - 2008-03-26
 » ???

I agree with patcher on this one.EA will buy T2 regardless.GTA4 will be big,but it won't raise their share dramatically. Also, to the kid who said $1 isn't a big deal what
if that's $100 million $1 bills? still not a big deal? T2 will be bought by EA and after that EA will own GTA IP hopefully R* allows themselves to be bought too.Because I would want them to continue making the games.

   by Jin Wu - 2008-03-26
 » I hate this site sometimes

Mainly when there's a prediction or outright fabrication from this idiot.

He's never right about anything and the things he is "right" about are so obvious a 12 year old could have predicted it.

I'm sick to death of this guy please stop posting his bull*****!

   by SRD - 2008-03-26
 » Comments about EA

I think Take-Two just wants to maintain their creative integrity. It's not always completely a matter of money. I agree that EA is sorely lacking in the innovation department with the majority of its titles. Perhaps Take-Two believes that customers will eventually get tired of these remake titles before Madden 2050 comes out. So, contradicting my previous statement, perhaps it is still a matter of money, but not in the short term.

   by Master Chef - 2008-03-26
 » Doesn't really matter

EA is just going to increase their offer until the shareholders accept, even if the Board tells them not to. EA can afford any price.

Pretty much this was guaranteed when EA let it be known that they want T2, when EA wants to buy you EA buys you.

   by xCHRISx - 2008-03-26
 » ..

ea offered to buy me for two one thousandths of a cent, but i declined. Im worth atleast 3. ;]


   Re: Quixand - 2008-03-26
 » you

should get a good pimp... sky's the limit buddy.
   by Jonathanx7 - 2008-03-27
 » T2 FTW!

T2 has pretty damn good games. EA will ***** that over bigtime. Hopefully T2 decides to take the high road and keep making awesome games long as they can! Even if quality drives them into the ground, least they can know they went down with honor. Not kept going with gay games like the ***** EA does.

   by infinitysend - 2008-03-27
 » Pachter, you're a douche.

Seriously dude. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THIS *****. I can't stand this guy, can anyone else? The gaming media FEEDS this guy. He's in constant contact with gaming news sites and they ALWAYS post his crap predictions. I got four very important letters for you, Pachter:

S

T

F

U



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