Electronic Arts Goes Hostile for Take-Two

Stung by the rejection of its late February offer, spurned Take-Two suitor Electronic Arts (EA) has taken the bid directly to shareholders. Yep, they've gone hostile.

In a press release on Thursday, EA made the same $26 / share offer it had earlier presented to Take-Two. EA Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello said:

This is a great opportunity for Take-Two shareholders. We believe Take-Two investors will see our tender offer as the best way to maximize the value of their investment in Take-Two. This tender offer provides a clear process to complete the proposed transaction. For EA shareholders, the combination would add additional intellectual properties to our already strong portfolio and welcome Take-Tw’s talented creative teams to the great development organization we've built at EA.

The tender offer is scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on Friday, April 11, 2008, unless extended. It's also conditional on a number of things, including (naturally) EA being able to "acquire a majority of the outstanding shares (fully-diluted) of Take-Two in the tender offer."

Yah, yah. If we can't get enough to take over, we don't want any. We got it.

Take-Two shares (TTWO) have risen to $25.51 at the time of this writing. Take-Two has previously said they felt the $26 / share offer undervalued the company.

At the same time, earlier this week the company was slapped with a lawsuit over the rejection of EA's offer.

Obviously still more to come.