Investing in Gaming Stocks: The Final Countdown to Take-Two's Annual Meeting
By Ian Cooper
The heavy question on every Take-Two (TTW) investors’ mind: deal or no deal?
As the March 29, 2007 annual meeting of shareholders nears, will a group of investors, who own 46% of TTWO shares, overtake the company, replace the board, and give the CEO the boot? Or will the company go the buyout route and put itself up for sale?
It’s still any one’s best guess. But one thing’s for certain this week. You can buy the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge.
With wildly successful games under Take-Two’s belt (for example, Bully and Grand Theft Auto), we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Murdoch’s News Corporation (once interested in buying Electronic Arts, but passed because of costs) buy the company.
Another route would be to sell off all of its units, except the wildly popular Rockstar Games unit, which has put out games like Grand Theft Auto and Bully.
But again, it’s a wait-and-see at this point. The best advice we can give you – buy ahead of the meeting. It’ll be a wild ride.
Investing in Gaming Stocks: Round Umpteen with Thompson
Another catalyst for Take-Two could be Grand Theft Auto IV, which the company is initiating a pre-emptive legal action against Jack Thompson over. It seems Thompson, whose suit against Bully was a failure, has been threatening to block the release of the controversial hit.
According to the company, the action is necessary (according to GamePolitics.com) because, “Thompson has a history of making multiple threats of legal action, whether substantiated or not, both against (Take-Two) as well as the retailers who purchase the video games and offer them for sale to the public. Thompson has made such threats again in connection with Manhunt 2 and GTAIV…”
Take care,
Ian L. Cooper, Editor, Early Alert Trader
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