EA Take-Two bid sparks Ubisoft shopping

[MarkD1990]

Electronic Arts’ move to acquire GTA publisher Take-Two is driving Ubisoft to speed up its own shopping plans, says the company’s CEO.

According to a Thompson Financial report spotted by Next-Gen, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that EA’s $2 billion bid to purchase Take-Two was forcing the company to re-evaluate its own expansion strategy. In other words, it’s looking to get to the shops before EA buys everything.

"The desire of EA to buy Take-Two pushes us to go faster, to accelerate internal growth but also to look at acquisition opportunities," Guillemot said.

But despite how great it’d be to halve our daily PR phone calls, it doesn’t look like Ubisoft Midway is going to happen anytime soon.

According to the report, Ubisoft is likely to focus on expanding its game license portfolio rather than targeting any major takeovers.

Of course EA also holds a 15 percent stake in the French Publisher, but the chances of a future hostile takeover look even more unlikely thanks to success of Assassin’s Creed, which is expected to clear five million units by next month. That’s a lot of Altair’s.

Source: CVG

[x240xdrifter]

tip of the hat to Take Two