Tech Rumor: Microsoft Eyeing EA


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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Takeover rumors are swirling around video game maker Electronic Arts(ERTS Quote), driving the company's stock up more than 5% Wednesday.

Citing information from traders, a Reuters report said there was "unsubstantiated talk" that Microsoft(MSFT Quote) is interested in buying the publisher of the Madden, Medal of Honor and FIFA series.

Shares of EA jumped 97 cents, or 5.24%, to $19.49 on the news, outpacing the Nasdaq, which grew 0.19%.

Although merely a rumor, an acquisition would boost Microsoft's presence in the video game space. The sector, however, has struggled to live up to its recession-proof billing, although this could mean an attractive valuation for M&A targets.

U.S. video game sales fell in August for the sixth straight month, according to figures from NPD Group, and analysts highlighted disappointing sales for the latest game in the Madden series.

EA, which was recently downgraded by Goldman, nonetheless has a potent weapon in its armory. The Redwood City, Calif.-based firm, which competes with Activision Blizzard(ATVI Quote) and Take Two Interactive(TTWO Quote), recently launched The Beatles: Rock Band game, which is expected to be a top seller this holiday season.

Shares of Microsoft rose 20 cents, or 0.78%, to $25.97 Wednesday.

Neither EA nor Microsoft has yet responded to TheStreet's request for comment on this story.

Source: http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/1060...E&cm_ite=NA

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Shares of Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) jumped more than 4 percent to $19.36 on Wednesday on unsubstantiated talk that Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) might be interested in buying the video game publisher, traders said.

"There's talk that Microsoft might be interested in acquiring Electronic Arts. It's unsubstantiated chatter, but it's out there," said Frederic Ruffy, options strategist at WhatsTrading.com in New York.

A London-based trader also cited similar talk as making rounds in Europe. Microsoft shares were up 0.9 percent at $26 on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews...20090923?rpc=44

WTF?

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PlayStation owners shouldn't be happy to hear this. Imagine all the games that will become X360 exclusives (or at least with late release on PS3) : Battlefield, Burnout, FIFA & all the sports games, C&C, The Sims, NFS, and i'm certainly forgetting some. It would be a very interesting move for Microsoft.

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It's just the stock market/exchange pulling stuff out their ass, most likely sourced from some high paid analysts, but it's interesting discussion material anyway for the "what ifs", would be some merge. EA would make far more money doing their diarrhoea multiplatform approach though, they wouldn't get to release on DS/PSP/PS3/360/PS2/PS1/iPhone/Nokia/Teletext going exclusive.

Plus for a :laugh:

"EA SUCK. WORST PUBLISHER AROUND. GAMES ARE ALL REHASHES, **** THE SIMS EXPANSION PACKS AND DRM."

Today a news report surfaces of MS' interest in EA....

"Oh good move. This would be interesting. No more games for PS3/Wii, awesome!"

:rofl:

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EA is QUITE the Juggernaut, and the other consoles would loose a ton of sport games and such, and since EA is doing the little brother developer program (helping companies like Valve and others) it could be a huge disaster for another company to take over; as much as i feel 360 > Ps3 i don't want this to happen.

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This could be a good thing, EA as a company is a joke and things need to change.

Joke or not, it is a unique company; with EA's size Microsoft would just convert it into a mini-Microsoft.

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pff Teletext already has bamboozle! It needs nothing else! Shame it will die when analogue goes :(

post-34378-1253728952.jpg

Fear bamber.

Epic :laugh:

If this were to happen, which it more than likely won't, I'm sure EA would keep publishing on all platforms.

Think of the nerd blacklash, and the competition comissions/EU would probally get in on the action.

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EA isn't a major developer in Europe (not even a particularly large publisher, they have FIFA and ... FIFA), it's unlikely that they would be interested in commenting on the issue.

This is way beyond Go Big Or Go Home, this would be the nuclear option in the console war.

In support, Microsoft and EA have had a lot of executive sharing lately (Peter Moore, EA's guy who went to Microsoft to replace Moore, etc etc etc), and you also have some MS published properties that have moved to EA because of acquisitions (Bioware's Mass Effect). This would make a lot of sense, but it could also be an absolutely crazy rumour.

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