Analyst says EA eying Take-Two’s sports portfolio

Wedbush Stanley’s lead videogame analyst, Michael Pachter, believes that Electronics Arts might have launched its bid for Take-Two in order to take control of the latter’s sports game division, 2K Sports, which is its only notable competitor in the sports game genre. He told Game Politics that the $26 a share price that EA has offered is fair enough and rebuffed any likelihood of any bidding war for Take-Two.

“I do not think there’s another bidder,” Pachter said. “I don’t think there’s any prayer of a bidding war.” He further suggested that it didn’t make sense for anyone else to buy Take-Two and engage in a fierce battle with EA for sports games. However, he asserted that EA can consolidate its sports game portfolio with such an acquisition and benefit from it.

He conjectured that EA could add another $100 million to its annual earnings from sports titles by acquiring Take-Two. According to Pachter, by purchasing its only competitor in sports games the super publisher can establish a monopoly in the genre and will not be required to cut prices of its sports title, which will optimize its revenues. He even quipped that sports is worth so much to EA that everything else including GTA is just gravy.

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