EA Buyout Bid Deadline Expires Quietly

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Another deadline for Take-Two, another pass.

According to Yahoo News, The Grand Theft Auto IV publisher had until 11:59 p.m. last night to agree to another buyout bid from Electronic Arts, which sat at about $2 billion or $26/share. This was an offer to the shareholders after EA took their offer to Take-Two's board of directors, who refused the bid saying it "undervalues" the company. The expiration date for the bid to shareholders was yesterday, and it passed without so much as a peep from either side. At this point, Take-Two shares are actually priced slightly above the $26 EA was offering, so it seems the world's largest publisher is going to have to scare up some more cash.

"There is nothing going on right now," Take-Two spokeswoman Meg Maise said when asked about the status of the bid Friday afternoon. "It is in (EA's) court."

But it was predicted that we'll be hearing more news on this tug-of-war on Monday, so stay tuned for any new events at the start of next week. Obviously, EA might have to revise their bid, but if they do, Take-Two isn't likely to pass again...

5/17/2008 Ben Dutka