Take-Two Interactive Appoints Replacement Audit Chair

Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, has appointed John F. Levy as a new member of its board of directors. Levy is the CEO of Board Advisory Services, a consulting firm which advises corporations on matters of governance, corporate compliance, and financial reporting. These are areas in which Take-Two has had some trouble in the recent past, since it was forced to postpone its SEC filing for a recent financial quarter, due to an inventory management system change related to Take-Two's Jack Of All Games distribution arm that "didn't go as well as planned", and "did not maintain effective controls over the accuracy of the amortization of its capitalized software development costs" at that time. In addition to his consulting role, Levy is also CFO of Universal Food & Beverage Company, and has previously served as CFO for multiple companies, including MediaBay Inc. Levy will also take up the chairman seat of the company's audit committee, left vacant when former audit chairman Barbara A. Kaczynski resigned from the company, feeling that "management failed to keep the board informed of important issues facing the company or failed to do so in a timely fashion." Kaczynski's comments on her resignation suggested that there was "an increasingly unhealthy relationship between senior management and the board of directors" at the Rockstar, 2K Games, Global Star Software and Joytech owner, especially regarding the late filing of the firm's accounts, and it's presumed that Levy's appointment will help bolster investor confidence in the firm on this point, given his independent background. "We are very pleased to have John join our Board," said Take-Two CEO and president Paul Eibeler. "He is an accomplished financial executive whose extensive experience as a financial advisor, senior corporate executive and auditor will be a great asset to both the Audit Committee and our company as a whole. We look forward to working with John and drawing on his wealth of experience and insight."