EA Makes Offer Directly to Shareholders [UPDATED]

No longer dealing with Take-Two's board

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080313/ea_taketwo.html?.v=1
from Stardock Forums

Electronic Arts has given up talking to Take-Two Interactive's Board of Directors regarding a possible purchase of the company. Instead the publishing giant has decided to try its hand at talking directly to the shareholders, offering them the $26 per share offer that they sent to the Board of Directors last month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One shareholder is already unhappy with the dealings of some of Take-Two's board members, specifically Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick and Chief Executive Benjamin Feder. It was announced yesterday that a lawsuit has been brought up against the two for allegedly rejecting the proposal without disclosure of it and then adding provisions that could make the pair a tidy sum of money.

UPDATE:

Take-Two Interactive's Board of Directors is recommending that shareholders continue being shareholders in the company and to ignore Electronic Arts' offer of $26 per share for the time being. The board will be reviewing the offer once more and will be getting back to shareholders within 10 business days.

In related news, EA's John Riccitello has stated the obvious, that Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto are the two assets driving the takeover attempt.

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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

I really have to wonder where the FTC is in all this?  There's really very few major publishers left and EA is consolidating big time. It's not a stretch to say that soon they will be the only player left in this area with any true power (except for Activision - but they're not very PC-centric anymore).

Certainly this merger will give EA a monopoly on the sports market - which is the true driving force behind this move.