Could Personal Connections Keep The EA and Take-Two Merger Talks Alive?

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- Despite the efforts of Electronic Arts Inc (“EA”) (NASDAQ:ERTS) to buyout Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:TTWO) for $26.00 per share in cash, the Board of Directors of Take-Two are fighting the offer as a hostile takeover bid.

"The Take-Two board rejected Electronic Arts’ bid as 'inadequate,'" The New York Times reported in an online article.

To reach its determination, Take-Two relied heavily on the assessments of the investment banking firms Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:L), The Times reported.

Nevertheless, close personal connections between the members of both EA’s and Take-Two’s Boards of Directors could serve to keep the merger negotiations going.

NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that illustrates key past and current corporate connections that could have an impact on future discussions between the companies.

The most noteworthy link connects EA and Take-Two though Mark Sanders Lewis, who was with EA for fifteen years as a Senior Executive and later served as a Director at Take-Two between 2001 and 2007.
Other interesting relationships involve Directors and Executives from either company that may be well acquainted through a common entity.  EA Director Leonard S Coleman Jr and Take-Two Director Robert A Bowman may know each other, since each has held various senior positions during overlapping years with Major League Baseball.

The Knowledge Map shows numerous other sets of relationships through common connections link past members of the leadership teams at EA and Take-Two, which could have been pivotal in starting discussions and may also become useful in facilitating negotiations in the near future.

To see the details of these connections, click here for an interactive and fuller version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Comments

[wooD]

This is bad for TTWO shareholders as any of the huge profits from GTA4 (launching April 29th) will be lost on an ERTS balance sheet. The longer TTWO can delay this the better. Sell ERTS, hold TTWO.