Breaking: Take-Two Considering Sale Of CompanyBreaking: Take-Two Considering Sale Of Company

Major publisher and developer Take-Two (Grand Theft Auto series) has announced that it is considering a sale of the company, following a fierce shareholder battle which threatens to depose major executives and the board. A group of prominent Take-Two investors owning 46% of the company's shares, including OppenheimerFunds, D.E. Shaw Valence Portfolios, S.A.C. Capital Management and Tudor Investment, are looking to remove current CEO Paul Eibeler and bring about changes within the company's board of directors. Due to this, Take-Two has announced that it has postponed its annual meeting from March 23rd until March 29th "...to provide additional time to review the proposed actions of the shareholder group and also to evaluate alternative courses of actions that could potentially be presented to the shareholders." The main example of an alternative course of action is "a possible sale of the Company", though the official notice also notes: "There is no assurance that any specific alternative proposal will be forthcoming." Take-Two’s recently restated financial results for fiscal 2006 saw revenue fall and the company record a net loss of $184.9 million. In addition, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter recently issued a statement to his firm's clients, calling Take Two's shares “overvalued” and the company's path ahead “troubling.” Nonetheless, the announcement has sharply affected Take-Two's shares in pre-market trading, with the company's Nasdaq-traded shares up almost $1.50 to $22.26 thanks to news of the possible sale.