Take-Two-Zynga is a very big deal, but is it a good one? | This Week in Business
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Friday 14th January 2022
This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check back every Friday for a new entry.
The big news this week was Take-Two's agreement to acquire Zynga for roughly $12.7 billion in cash and stock. It's a big, splashy deal, and the largest gaming acquisition deal of the pandemic, handily topping Microsoft's blockbuster $7.5 million payout for Bethesda in September of 2020.
To put it simply, it's a very big deal.
It's also a little surprising, given what we heard from Take-Two in the past after it gave up on its attempt to buy Codemasters almost exactly a year ago, after its nearly $1 billion bid for Codemasters was topped by Electronic Arts' $1.2 billion deal.
QUOTE | "Prices are pretty heady, and we are remaining disciplined. We are anxious to grow. Our entire story really has been organic growth. We have the balance sheet to grow inorganically as well, but we've shown with Codemasters -- a deal we very much wanted -- that under all circumstances, we'll keep a firm grasp on our HP12C [financial calculator] on the one hand, and our discipline and strategy on the other." - In February of last year, CEO Strauss Zelnick told us consolidation is driving prices up across the board, which could discourage Take-Two from joining in on the M&A frenzy.
That was basically the same sort of pragmatic approach we've always heard from Zelnick. In the past, he's often preached prudence over aggression. Take-Two has always wanted to meet consumers wherever they happen to be, rather than making big bets to push consumers to more
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
