It seems at least one Analyst feels a $20-$22 bid to takeover Take Two would be sufficient and would result in the company accepting that bid -- at least if the
report by MCV -- the outlet responsible for the rumor in the first place -- is accurate.
It's interesting MCV's analyst reports Take Two would accept this bid when they
turned down a bid rumored at around $25 in 2008. However, that price was also in the inflated stock market of 2008, where a lot of irrational exuberance and inflated stock prices was the story of the day. Today those same conditions are around almost everywhere except video game stocks, which are still quite suppressed.
And let's be honest, the second line of the opening paragraph of the MCV news story is the more important one -- to say EA would allow Activision to acquire Take Two without any counter-offer is probably naive at best. This is all assuming that MCV isn't just circulating rumors in order to get a jump on a story that just might not happen.
Bottom Line: These two companies are certainly talking -- where there is smoke there is fire. But beyond the problem of a price, which is going to be a big sticking point, there is the problem of culture conflicts between both companies in many ways. As far as what this might mean for the 2K Sports brand, I'll get to that on my blog soon enough!