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Eidos in early buyout talks
Even though she's more busted than a meth-addicted lady of the night, Eidos is ready to work the street corner again for some johns (we're guessing two brothers with the last name Warner). MCV acquired a statement from the publisher, indicating that the board has received a "preliminary approach" from a company, which "may or may not lead" to a buyout.Although plenty of corporations with the means have pulled up to offer the troubled company a ride, Warner Bros. is the only one to invest and control 20% of the publisher. Further speculation pointed to Warner Bros. after Time Warner's CFO recently made comments about getting more involved in the games industry. We'll have to wait and see if it's Warner that tells Eidos it's OK to turn off the red light.
What does it cost to keep EA at bay?
In order to keep out of EA's portfolio Take-Two Interactive spent nearly $11.1 million, according to Security and Exchange Commission filings submitted by the Grand Theft Auto IV publisher. In a seven-month-long period Electronic Arts attempted to purchase Take-Two Interactive by way of initial offering and then by bidding directly to shareholders. After numerous delayed deadlines, Electronic Arts finally canceled its quest to purchase the company who owns such high-profile studios as 2K Boston, developers of BioShock. Gamespot reports that Take-Two incurred the costs during the "strategic review process" of the EA offer. Today, Take-Two Interactive remains an independent company but shareholders are probably grinding their teeth about its current financial situation. At the height of buyout talks, EA was offering $25.74 per share but Take-Two rejected the offer, now the company currently trades at $8 per share ... but that probably has a lot to do with this whole economic crisis thing.
Take-Two spent $11 million preventing EA takeover
Security and Exchange Commission filings by Take-Two reveal the publisher spent $11.1 million to keep Electronic Arts at bay during its seven-month-long takeover attempt. Gamespot reports that Take-Two incurred the costs during the "strategic review process" of the EA offer.For better or worse for investors, Take-Two won its battle against EA and remains independent. Although, investors can't be too happy to see the stock they could have gotten $25.74 for during the EA offer currently trading around $8 per share*.*In fairness, game stocks in general are down. Apparently something to do with an economic crisis.[Via GameDaily]
Panasonic to officially purchase controlling stake in Sanyo for $6.4B
It took a little longer than we'd heard due to some last-minute complications, but Panasonic's deal to buy almost all of Sanyo has finally been approved by Sanyo's major shareholders. Under the deal, Panny will buy out some 70 percent of Sanyo for ¥131 ($1.50) a share, making the total deal worth some ¥560B ($6.41B). That'd be lot of scratch even if the economy wasn't in the tank, but Panny thinks it'll be worth it to take over Sanyo's position in the solar and rechargeable battery markets, which it thinks are due to blow up. Er, not blow up like that -- in the fun-filled raining-cash way. You get the idea. Xactis for everyone!
Ubisoft 'mad' MMO dev Cryptic went to Atari
The buyout game, like any other, produces sore losers. In this case it's Ubisoft, who lost out to Atari in a bidding war for Champions Online and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios. Gamasutra quotes Ubi's CFO, Alain Martinez, as saying the company was "a bit mad [about]" losing the deal. "We were a bit disappointed," Martinez admitted, though he said Ubisoft is moving ahead with other planned acquisitions. "We have about three deals within [the] five million euro range that we are negotiating," he revealed, stating that, "Most probably, one or two of them will be closed in the next three or four months." One of those wouldn't happen to be Eidos, would it?
Jack Emmert weighs in on the Atari buyout announcement
The surprising news this morning that Infogrames, the parent company of Atari, would be purchasing Cryptic Studios prompted us to get in touch with Jack Emmert over at Cryptic Studios in order to shine a little more light on the current situation. Here's what he had to say:Massively: How will the Atari acquisition change or affect the 2k Games publishing agreement for Champions Online?Jack Emmert: I'm afraid I can't comment on this. I can only say that I enjoy working with 2k games; they're a great company and even better people.Can you give us a bit of background on Cryptic's relationship with Atari? Where did the idea for this collaboration emerge?This evolved after numerous discussions. John Needham, our CEO extraordinaire, had been doing the rounds to look for funding opportunities. We crossed paths with David Gardiner and Phil Harrison of Atari; all of us really hit it off. One thing led to another...and here were are!This is obviously a very positive step for Cryptic. Can you speak to what kind of benefits you see in your new relationship with Atari?Atari has a great pool of resources – PR, marketing, distribution, etc. Atari also has a number of terrific IP's that would make great MMO's. Mostly, this acquisition allows Cryptic to focus solely on the business of making great MMO's.Is this going to alter the beta and release schedules for any Cryptic projects?Not at all. We're still moving ahead with Champions – Q2 next year, and STO later in the year. Development priorities are the only thing that can shift those dates.
Panasonic and Sanyo change status to "it's complicated"
You know you've heard it from two lovebirds in junior high: "we're not going out, we're just talking." In a completely bizarre way, that's about the best way we can sum up what's apparently going on between Panasonic and Sanyo Electric. According to an unnamed company official "familiar with the negotiations," Panny is already in talks with Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking about snapping up a "controlling stake in its smaller rival." Reportedly, these "talks" are at the so-called preliminary stage, and dialog regarding dollars and cents (and yen, probably) has yet to officially occur. Still, the insider asserts that a formal acquisition proposal will be submitted soon, potentially enabling Panasonic to quickly grab a "world-class" (wait, really?) battery operation and give it a leg-up in the exploding solar energy market. Stay tuned for more -- you know the unpredictable always happens on Saturday nights.[Via Bloomberg]
AT&T looking to snap up DirecTV?
Since it appears the rumored DirecTV/DISH partnership won't come to fruition, the recent idea is that AT&T might be sliding into position to acquire DirecTV and all those HD channels. Multichannel News cited an analyst report issuing a buy rating on Liberty Entertainment shares, based on an increased probability of AT&T snapping up a piece of the satcaster, if DirecTV doesn't buy Liberty first. Enough maybes, coulds and probablys for you? Still, there's no need to wait if you want some DirecTV in your triple play right now.
Fujitsu to hand over hard drive division, self-respect to Western Digital
It's prom night, and Fujitsu wants to give it all up to Western Digital. And we're talking everything: if the sordid deal goes through, by the end of the year Fujitsu will have sold its entire hard disk division to WD, giving the maker of the exquisitely named Caviar almost thirty percent of the market, second only to Seagate's thirty-five percent. So look out, Seagate! But who will the real winners be? That's right: the consumer. Because the rampant monopolization of every aspect of the computer industry can only be a good thing. Just ask those fat cats in Washington.
Square Enix proposes Tecmo buyout
It seems Dead Fantasy might just becomes a living reality after all. Square Enix has announced its intention to purchase a majority stake in Tecmo, the Japanese company which recently bid farewell to both its president and most recognizable rockstar developer. As detailed in a press release issued this morning (via IGN), the house that built Final Fantasy (and vice versa) is offering Tecmo shareholders a 30% premium over the company's closing price on August 28th. If successful, the deal would see Tecmo fall under Square Enix Holdings, while retaining its brand and corporate structure.Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, expressed hope that both developers would benefit from the deal, with the RPG maker gaining some inspiration from Tecmo's expertise in the action genre. Presumably, the folks at Tecmo would gain some pointers on in-game cameras in return.We'll let you know what happens as soon as the suits are done talking.
EA, Take-Two take buyout talks behind closed doors
The ongoing drama of who's eating who between mega publishers Electronic Arts and Take-Two has finally been taken behind the curtain, where it should have been all along. After coming to some measure of understanding, the companies have jointly signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to blab about what may or may not happen as a result of ongoing talks until, you know, something actually happens. According to Reuters, EA has agreed as part of a regulatory filing with the SEC to not "make any further announcements regarding the status of any discussions or negotiations with Take-Two" until the pair come to some sort of mutual accord. We couldn't be happier, knowing that while the drama will likely continue to unfold for quite some time, at least we won't have to read (or write!) about it.
FTC gives green-light for EA's Take-Two buyout
The Federal Trade Commission has stated that it will not oppose EA's pursuit of Take-Two Interactive. Following an investigation, the government agency concluded that no antitrust issue will occur, but left the door open to "take further action as the public interest may require."This means all systems are go for EA and Take-Two to come to some sort of amicable agreement over how to bring the companies together. If that doesn't work, EA will probably just go back to throwing money on the table until Take-Two is ready admit she can't deny the sugar.Source - Closing Letter to one EA attorneySource - Closing Letter to one Take-Two attorney[Via GamePolitics]
Activision tried to buy Blizzard before merging with Vivendi
If you can't beat em', join em', appears to be the logic used by Activision in the recently confirmed merger. The website for industry rag Variety is reporting that before the idea of a copacetic merger of two gaming giants was pitched, Activision was interested in just buying Blizzard outright from the Vivendi folks. Bobby Kotick was very interested in Vivendi's crown jewel and the possible revenues from the sparkle inside: World of Warcraft. The article notes how different that tone was than just a few years ago, when Vivendi tried to sell their games business off to pay down debt. At the time no-one was willing to bite, a state of affairs the company is probably now very grateful for. Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillaume will apparently be one of the individuals quoted in an upcoming story on the site about the merger, and offered up this pithy insight about the deal.Originally, Activision wanted to buy Blizzard. "'One game, World of Warcraft,' bought Activision."
Alltel tried to buy Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T as a public company
Unless you've been camped out under a Rhode Island-sized boulder for the past few weeks, chances are you know that Verizon has announced its intentions to acquire Alltel. During a recent interview with CEO Scott Ford, Talk Business host Roby Brock was able to get quite a few talking points out of the exec that didn't involve the most recent transaction. More specifically, Mr. Ford noted that prior to Alltel becoming a private company, it had "tried to buy Sprint three times, tried to buy AT&T Wireless [and] tried to buy T-Mobile." He continued by saying that "some of those times it went with partners, [while] some of those times it didn't." Essentially, Alltel was "doing everything it could to get to a national platform." Believe it or not, those quotes really are just the tip of the iceberg, but the full spill is entirely too detailed for this space. If you're curious to know what might have been, break out the reading glasses and hit the link below.[Via mocoNews]
SanDisk acquires MusicGremlin, slips it in front pocket
Quite a bit of time has elapsed since we last saw fit to mention MusicGremlin on these pages, but the long-lost outfit has found itself relevant again thanks to SanDisk. Announced today, the latter firm has acquired the former, and we're told that the acquisition will (expectedly) fall under the Sansa audio / video business unit. According to Daniel Schreiber, general manager and senior VP of the aforesaid unit, MusicGremlin's "digital distribution platform and capabilities will provide SanDisk with adaptive and innovative technology that will play a key role in the development of future Sansa products for consumers," though he didn't elaborate much beyond that. To be frank, we have some serious respect for the Sansa line as-is, so we're quite interested to see what impact (if any) this will eventually have on the crew we've come to know so well.
Verizon "in talks" to buy Alltel for $27 billion
Verizon has certainly courted Alltel before, but this time, the two could finally be rounding third base. According to a breaking report at CNBC, Verizon is "in deep in talks to acquire Alltel," which of course is America's fifth largest wireless carrier. It's no secret that Alltel has been riding fairly high of late, and unless your memory is totally shot, you'll likely recall that it was just recently "taken private by TPG and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in a $27.5 billion deal." Not surprisingly, officials at both outfits refused to comment on the rumblings, but if this does indeed go down, analysts are expecting Verizon to pay around 8x Alltel's current EBITDA, whereas TPG / Goldman Sachs paid 9.2x. We'll keep you posted on any developments.Update: The talks have been confirmed by Vodafone which owns a 45% stake in VZW.
Rumor: Sony Ericsson to buy HTC. HTC: nope, it's untrue.
So the backstory goes something like this: Swedish publication Elektroniktidningen were looking forward to a meeting with HTC, but the meeting was delayed due to talks of some sort of merger with Sony Ericsson. Everyone panicked: Could HTC be bought by Sony Ericsson? They've already worked together on the Xperia X1, so it could be possible, right? Not so much, according to HTC. Word from them is that this whole this is a bunch of hooey. According to HTC's spokesperson, "This is just a rumor and there is no truth to this statement." For now we're moving along.
Stone buys Rock -- could this be any more perfect?
When Rock fell under administration earlier this month, we honestly had no idea if we'd ever see that swank Pegasus 210 hit the market. Today, we still have no clue about the latter, but we do know that the failed company has been caught by the most impeccably named suitor Planet Earth has to offer: Stone. Reportedly, Stone Group will dish out "an undisclosed sum" for Rock, after which the two will meld together and form an all-powerful, completely unstoppable boulder. Watch out Mount Rushmore, you've got some serious competition now.[Via vnunet]
EA deadline for Take-Two offer ends tonight
Remember kids, EA's $25.74 per share deadline offer for Take-Two ends tonight at 11:59PM EDT. Originally offering $26 per share and a purchase price of $2 billion, EA had lowered its offer when Take-Two declined to sell in April. Currently trading closer to $27 a share, Take-Two Interactive has been in EA's sights for quite some time--so does anyone think this deadline will stop them from trying again?EA says they want Take-Two, so are they really going to give up? What else could they do? Well, EA could always lower their offer to Take-Two again, just to scare them. It's like those old sitcoms where two people haggle over money and one gets progressively lower just to scare the other guy into submission. What we're saying is that EA is basically the gaming equivalent of Balki Bartokomous.Some analysts think this whole thing will be hammered out over the weekend, but we'll have to wait and see.
EA deadline to Take-Two shareholders ends tonight
There are a little over 12 hours to go before EA's $25.74 per share deadline for Take-Two ends at 11:59PM EDT. Analyst Michael Pachter told Forbes (via GamePolitics) that EA started off too high with its $26 a share offering and should have started around $22 back then. Meanwhile, analyst Colin Sebastian tells the San Francisco Chronicle he believes the deal is going to get "hammered out," possibly at a higher price.As of this writing, Take-Two's stock is trading around $27 per share, but EA could be buying up all those shares with its billion dollar loan for all we know. Word on the street is that something could happen Monday, but the only certainty right now is tonight's deadline.
