Strauss-Zelnick
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EA extends Take-Two takeover offer to Aug. 18
With another deadline in EA's takeover bid come and gone, the industry's #2 publisher isn't quitting and has reaffirmed it still wants to gobble up Take-Two by extending its $25.74 per share offer deadline to Aug 18. EA currently has only 15% of Take-Two's stock, which translates to 11,741,339 shares. Obviously, EA needs over half the shares to complete the takeover.Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick released a statement that the company's board is "100% committed to maximizing stockholder value," calling EA's bid "inadequate" and recommending stockholders not take the EA offer. He says that Take-Two is currently "engaged in meaningful discussions with multiple parties" and that some of those groups have been conducting due diligence (a fancy legal term for checking under a company's hood and making sure everything looks kosher). Meanwhile, the FTC is probing the deal over possible antitrust issues and should be finished by Aug. 21.Source – EA extends deadline to Aug. 18Source – Take-Two responds to fifth extension
Joystiq live at E3 2008 Take-Two press conference
10:44 am PT: Just chilling as the press-type folk move on in. Linkin Park is playing,10:46 am: Strauss takes the stage
Overheard@E3: Zelnick don't like badges
Yesterday we learned Strauss Zelnick, the Charmain of Take-Two and the man standing brave against the hostile EA takeover, doesn't like wearing his E3 badge. While waiting to see 2K's latest offerings, the very polished Zelnick, who looks identical to his head-shot above, walked in and handed his badge off to the lady behind the desk exclaiming, "I hate wearing these things!"Dude, we're totally with you! But, we're not the Strauss Zelnick. We'd love to join you in solidarity, but then security would probably kick us out.
Bioshock 3 confirmed, likely coming with the movie
While it was assumed when there was an announcement of Bioshock 2, it's now been confirmed that the series is officially set to be a trilogy. In an investor conference call Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO discussed the movie and the likelihood that it wouldn't be ready in time for the second game (duh) but that it could see release alongside the third in the series. Given the surprising sales of the first game and the potential of the IP at this point, Bioshock 3 is as sure of a thing now as Halo 3 was in 2003. That is to say financially guaranteed, but a long way off.
Zelnick: GTA IV is glitch-free, Us: There's a GTA IV patch coming today
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick's recent interview with CNBC may just be the least surprising one you'll hear all month. First off, he thinks the company made the right moves in holding Grand Theft Auto IV back from its original release and in refusing to acquiesce to the advances of Electronic Arts. Can you believe it?Also, Zelnick insists that there are no glitches in GTA IV, which makes the news of today's incoming multiplayer patch for the PS3 version of the game just hysterical. Of course, when Strauss said that glitch line, we're pretty sure the interviewer was asking him in her own Draconian fashion if there's any hidden doin' it in the game. Now we're wondering if he's wrong about that too.Update: The v1.01 patch is now live (18 MB) -- thanks to everyone for the heads-up!
Take-Two's Zelnick on selling to EA, making new IPs, and GTA IV
When Strauss Zelnick and his band of merry cohorts (read: Take-Two investors) took over the beleaguered gaming publisher last March, lots of industry pundits thought the veteran biz guy would fix it up and sell it off (EA perhaps?). Speaking at the Reuters Business Summit, Zelnick said, "I'm much more interested in growing the business than in selling it, to be clear."Zelnick's been working on improving the efficiency of the company (like selling off that silly peripheral business), planning on growth (sell the company? Heck, they're probably going to be hiring!), working on building new IPs instead of licensing them (BioShock did swimmingly) and, oh yeah, GTA IV, about which he says, "I believe this release, Grand Theft Auto IV, is going to be vastly better than those expectations -- vastly better -- and that's hard to do when expectations are so high." Don't call it a comeback.
