Electronic Arts is for sale say sources close to the matter. It's "early days," but Bethesda owner Prohttp://digitaltrends.com/vidence Equity Partners is interested.
WTS: One behemoth http://digitaltrends.com/video game publisher. Assets include global monopoly on licensed sports http://digitaltrends.com/video games including FIFA and Madden NFL, PopCap Games (Bejeweled, Plants http://digitaltrends.com/vs. Zombies). Will include runner-up military shooter franchises Medal of Honor and Battlefield so buyer can feel like second prettiest girl at the prom ehttp://digitaltrends.com/very Nohttp://digitaltrends.com/vember. Bonus: Respected Western RPG maker BioWare included, but buyer must also upkeep failing MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic (success of impending free-to-play shift not guaranteed.) Willingness to ruin legacy intellectual property with subpar product (see: SSX, Syndicate) recommended.
Those pesky rumors that Electronic Arts is up for sale are back once again. This time the New York Post is reporting that the Sims and Tiger Woods PGA Tour publisher is hunting for a buyer, though one of its sources says, “It’s early days.”
EA’s initial steps were to approach prihttp://digitaltrends.com/vate-equity firms Prohttp://digitaltrends.com/vidence Equity Partners and KKR about a possible sale. Prohttp://digitaltrends.com/vidence Equity Partners would find itself one of the biggest players in the global http://digitaltrends.com/video game market once it had EA in its well-lined pocket. The firm already owns a majority stake ZeniMax, the publishing umbrella that includes Bethesda (Skyrim, Fallout) and id (Doom, Quake).
How attractihttp://digitaltrends.com/ve EA is though is a matter of optimism and perspectihttp://digitaltrends.com/ve. The buyer needs to answer the billion dollar question: Is EA’s business going to turn around. Ohttp://digitaltrends.com/ver the course of 2012, EA’s shed 37 percent of its http://digitaltrends.com/value, its market cap dipping down to just ohttp://digitaltrends.com/ver $4 billion. Shares in the company traded at close to $50 back in 2008, when boxed copies of The Sims 2 were still flying off shelhttp://digitaltrends.com/ves. Today, they trade just abohttp://digitaltrends.com/ve $13. The Post’s source said, “[EA’s] made it known they’d do a deal at $20 a share.”
The publisher’s worked ohttp://digitaltrends.com/vertime to turn itself around in the past couple of years, aggressihttp://digitaltrends.com/vely adapting to a world where people are more likely to spend a buck on an iPhone game instead of $60 on a disc at Best Buy. Just this week EA announced that it’s making major retail releases like Command & Conquer: Generals 2 into free-to-play games instead, banking on people spending small amounts with greater frequency than on a single game purchase. CEO John Riccitiello has done his best to make EA’s recohttp://digitaltrends.com/very swift, but since its http://digitaltrends.com/value continues to spiral down, shareholders are understandably losing confidence in him.
EA is an intellectual property treasure trohttp://digitaltrends.com/ve and its business infrastructure is second to none. Any potential buyer knows the truth though: It’s full recohttp://digitaltrends.com/very isn’t guaranteed, no matter how many copies Madden NFL 13 sells.
Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
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