Take-Two Aligns Fiscal Year With Other Retail Publishers

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive this week said it would shift its fiscal year-end from October 31 to March 31 "to align its fiscal periods more closely with the seasonality of its business." By ending the fiscal year in March instead of October, Take-Two said it will be able to "improve comparability with industry peers." Most of the major publicly-traded video game publishers' fiscal years end in March. The video game industry's packaged retail business is still very seasonal, with the bulk of revenues generated during the holiday quarter, which runs from October through December. Take-Two's current fiscal schedule ends right in the middle of that period, and the change will give the delay-prone publisher more flexibility in scheduling releases. Take-Two said it will report its results for the three- and 12-month periods ending October 31 in mid-December 2010 press release, and hold a corresponding conference call. At that time, the publisher will give guidance for the five-month period between November 2010 and March 2011 as Take-Two transitions to the new schedule, and will file a transition report with the SEC within the next two months. Take-Two said it plans to report on the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 in late May next year. The annual meeting of stockholders for 2011 will be held on or after September 1, 2011, and no later than September 30.