Report: Viacom Offering $1.5b For Take-Two

Following industry rumors that Viacom was interested in making a bid for Take-Two, a new report has followed up with details of a $1.5 billion offer from the media giant for the Grand Theft Auto and BioShock publisher. UK trade publication MCV has filed the new report stating only that it "understands" Viacom, parent company to Paramount, Dreamworks, MTV, and Nickelodeon -- as well as stakeholder in developer and publisher Midway -- has made a $23 per share offer on the publisher. The deal would make some synergistic sense, the report points out, as Take-Two has recently formed a partnership with Nickelodeon to create titles based on Nick, Jr. children's properties under its new casual label. In November of last year, Take-Two chair Strauss Zelnick brushed aside speculation of a buyout, saying "I'm much more interested in growing the business than in selling it, to be clear. I would say for the next five to seven years this is a terrific time to be in the video game business. I imagine we will try to find greater efficiencies but they probably won't be through headcount. I imagine headcount will grow. This is a growth business. We are in growth mode."