Take-Two Now Owns Zynga As Part Of Second-Biggest Deal In Gaming History
Take-Two, the parent company of GTA developer Rockstar Games, has completed one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of video games. Take-Two's previously announced $12.7 billion acquisition of FarmVille company Zynga is now complete.
As previously announced, Zynga stockholders are getting $3.50 in cash for each share they own and 0.0406 shares of Take-Two stock for every Zynga stock they hold.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a statement that this deal is a «pivotal» play for the company to help it make even more money from mobile gaming. Mobile is the fastest-growing part of gaming, Zelnick said, and buying Zynga gives the company access to FarmVille and many other popular and lucrative franchises. Many other publishers, including EA, are spending billions in the mobile market because mobile gaming is bigger and more popular than console and PC.
Zynga boss Frank Gibeau said, «We are eager to continue building an unparalleled portfolio of games that will reach broader markets and lead to continued growth for this next chapter of Zynga's history.»
Take-Two's buyout proposal for Zynga had a 45-day «go-shop» provision, during which Zynga could look for a better deal from a different company. Whether or not Zynga made any serious or significant moves with any other potential suitors during this time is unknown.
Take-Two's deal to buy Zynga for $12.7 billion, which was proposed earlier this year, was the most expensive deal in the history of video games by a large margin until Microsoft--just days later--proposed to buy Activision Blizzard for $75 billion.
In addition to its growing mobile games portfolio, Take-Two's Rockstar Games is currently developing the next Grand Theft Auto game, but it's not expected to be
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