EA Amends Tender Offer for Take-Two and Extends Deadline

Electronic Arts announced today that it will be amending its tender offer (which Take-Two rejected) to acquire all outstanding shares of Take-Two stock and will also extend the offer’s deadline from April 11 to April 18. An EA press release cites “the actions publicly disclosed by Take-Two on March 26, 2008, including its adoption of a poison pill and change to the date of its 2008 annual meeting of stockholders to April 17” as the reasoning behind today’s move.

The principal amendments to the offer include:

• EA has added a condition to its offer requiring either (1) that Take-Two’s Board of Directors redeem the preferred stock purchase rights issued as a result of Take-Two’s adoption on March 24, 2008 of the stockholder rights plan, or (2) that EA be satisfied that such rights have been invalidated or are otherwise inapplicable to its acquisition of Take-Two.
• EA has extended its tender offer for all of the common stock of Take-Two until 11:59 p.m., New York City time on Wednesday, April 18, 2008, unless further extended. The offer was previously set to expire at midnight, New York City time, on April 11, 2008.

“The actions of the Take-Two Board may increase the risk for their stockholders by delaying a potential transaction,” said Owen Mahoney, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at EA. “We continue to believe that our $26.00 per share offer price is full and fair, and that a transaction between Take-Two and EA is the most compelling combination financially, strategically and operationally for all parties.”

Take-Two held an investors conference this week which outlined the value of the company, with the underlying message of urging shareholders to not give in to EA’s offer.

And so the dance continues…

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