Take-Two agrees to give FTC information on possible EA deal

Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the record-breaking Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), has agreed to comply to the Federal Trade Commission’s wishes and will send information about its supposed deal with giant Electronic Arts. This means that the commission will now start assessing the US$ 2 billion deal to safeguard against potential antitrust law violations. More in the full article.

Game publisher Take-Two Interactive has finally agreed to cooperate with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its on-going take-over bid struggle with larger firm Electronic Arts. Take-Two was earlier sent a subpoena to provide information about the deal to the government.
 
Take-Two expressed its willingness to comply Wednesday and agreed to provide information on a limited scope. The company said that this is to prevent expenses and distractions from mounting up on its employees.

Take-Two was earlier accused by the FTC of delaying the submission of information and issuing illegible documents to them. One Take-Two lawyer was even quoted as saying “Take-Two had decided that it was unfair for the commission to burden it with the expense and effort that would be required to comply.”

Federal trade laws require parties involved in deals worth more than US$ 60 million to submit information to be assessed by the FTC. this is a process done to avoid antitrust law violations.

It can be recalled that EA extended a take-over offer worth US$ 2 billion to Take-Two. The offer was deemed too low by the Grand Theft Auto 4 publishers and was subsequently rejected. Nonetheless, the offer still stands and EA gave Take-Two up to July 18 to accept it.

Via Reuters