EA Lands $1 Billion Loan For Take-Two Acquisition

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Analysts have been saying for months that this was inevitable, even though Take-Two has managed to fend off EA's advances for quite some time. It's now obvious that the publisher of the massively successful Grand Theft Auto IV wanted to wait to release the game before giving up the goods, and with this latest movement, the acquisition seems all the more possible.

EA's vice-president of communications Jeff Brown says there's "no news here" and that it's nothing more than a "process point on something we announced in February." (source- Kombo) But we must disagree with that first sentiment...this be news: EA has taken out a $1 billion loan from Morgan Stanley and lenders to help pay for the Take-Two acquisition, which may not be far off. Now, as Kotaku already said, EA has more than enough cash to take care of this purchase, but Brown says the loan lets them "maintain maximum flexibility for any opportunities." Take-Two hasn't commented on this loan, but we're pretty certain they're aware of EA's intentions. How much longer can they withstand the pressure from the world's biggest game publisher?

We're going to make this very simple for anybody who over-thinks the issue: EA wants GTA, and they're willing to dump a gigantic amount of money to make it happen. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

5/9/2008 Ben Dutka