Updated 26 May, 2012, 3:49 pm IST

EA's Take Two Offer to Expire May 16

18 Apr, 2008, 10:40 pm IST | by AP |

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. on Friday extended by nearly a month its tender offer for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. but also lowered the price it will pay for each share of the "Grand Theft Auto" maker.

EA's offer will now expire on May 16 instead of 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday. As of Thursday, about 6.4 million shares of Take-Two had been tendered, representing roughly 8 percent of Take-Two's outstanding shares.

EA said it extended the deadline to comply with a second request it received from the Federal Trade Commission for information about the proposed acquisition. It's the second extension, the first came after Take-Two moved back the date of its annual shareholder meeting by a week.

EA has repeatedly said that timing was key for its offer - which was first made public Feb. 24 - because it wants to put its marketing muscle behind "Grand Theft Auto IV," which goes on sale April 29. Take-Two, however, has called the timing "opportunistic" and has refused to sit down with EA until the day after GTA IV goes on sale.

Owen Mahoney, EA's senior vice president of corporate development, said any further delays, whether it's regulatory or on the part of Take-Two's management, could affect the "value and certainty of the offer."

EA's bid for Take-Two is still valued at about $2 billion. The company said it adjusted the per-share price to $25.74 from $26 to reflect additional shares of restricted stock granted to Take-Two's management. On Thursday, Take-Two shareholders granted ZelnickMedia, the company's management, 1.5 million shares of restricted stock.

Redwood City, Calif.-based EA strongly objected to the stock grant to ZelnickMedia and said it did not reflect the views of shareholders.

That's because Take-Two only allowed shareholders of record as of Feb. 19 to vote at the meeting. That was five days before EA's offer went public, and analysts estimate that more than half of Take-Two's shares have changed hands since.

Chairman Strauss Zelnick said the vote signaled a vote of confidence in Take-Two's management.

"Take-Two's board of directors has maintained from the beginning, and continues to believe, that EA's proposal vastly undervalues our company," he said. "It undervalued the company at $26 per share, and it certainly undervalues Take-Two at $25.74."

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