Viacom Boss Balks At EA Buyout

Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone (who personally owns a controlling share in Midway) has denied speculation that his company was seeking to acquire Electronic Arts, claiming that although he had considered the option he felt the price would be too high. A price tag of around $20 billion has been estimated for Electronic Arts and some had suggested that with the resignation of Viacom president Mel Karmazin the company might be on the look out for fast growing assets to boost its flagging stock price. P.J. McNealy, an analyst at American Technology Research, has commented that, “EA's been an attractive target on paper for big media companies for a while.” However, potential buyers other than Viacom have not been named. Source: CNN Money