Kotaku
Damn! Should have shorted Take-Two Interactive!
Running out of cash and pissing off even more litigants, Take-Two Interactive Software—the publisher of Grand Theft Auto — is looking for rescue from buyout firms, according to the New York Post (seriously obnoxious registration required; use BugMeNot). An unnamed "source close to the company" says: "For a fund, it is a bet that the cash flows from sales of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Liberty City Tales, and new management could get around the growing liabilities."
The geniuses running the company have managed to burn through $200 million in cash in the past year, leaving just $100 million. This week, an analyst also rated the stock a "sell"—which never, ever happens on Wall Street. Worst of all for the company, a member of the company's board resigned, writing a stinging letter about the incompetence of the current management and (ouch) lack of candor.
Dang, watching this wreck is almost as fun as causing wrecks in GTA.
Take Two Talks [New York Post]
Comments
I hope the company recovers from this, I'd hate to see the franchise go down. I'm not 100% informed on this issue. Could it? ...or is what's happening with Take-Two just a setback of sorts?
Can't say that the news is disappointing. I've felt that the GTA series has been stagnant for ages now, and it's about time it's been done away with. That said, I'd hate for TakeTwo to go under, especially since the many people they employ would be out of jobs.
I'm glad I sold my stocks a while ago. They have a management problem on every level and need to clean up.
Wow, and I was shocked to see the stocks of Ubisoft down by 6% last friday... The problem of T2 is that they only have one strong license. Attack it and this is what's happening...
The problem is gluttony. They were aquiring way more than they could sustain or afford. Did you really need the exclusive deal with the Baseball? Same thing happened to Vivendi. When all you do is eat, you are gonna have problems.
Seems we now have this generation's Tomb Raider. attack it with what? seems they did this on themselves. I'm sure EA is going to buy the Rockstar thing.
I think they were aware that they only had one cash cow and tried to diversify. Instead of going one step at a time it seems they decided to take the shotgun approach and hit as many targets as possible in as short a time. No wonder they are bleeding now. I am pretty sure that GTA is going to survive it is too strong of a franchise, and as long as the same writers are involved it'll be fun. For me it's the overall atmosphere in those games (not to mention the over the top acting at times) that appeals to me, I really don't expect anything utterly unique from those games (though I liked the Skydiving one they added in SA).
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