EA is now "a great acquisition target" says analyst

[Griking]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-04-27-ea-is-now-a-great-acquisition-target-says-analyst

It's amazing to think that EA, the company that we're used to snatching up our favorite developers can possibly be bought up themselves.

Personally I think that Valve may be an interesting suitor.

[Leo_A]

Even though with the success Steam has had over the past decade or so has surely made the company much larger and powerful, I'm skeptical Valve is in the position to purchase a company of this size.

Can't imagine the developer purchasing the publisher. EA's revenue is approximately 4 times the size of Valve's. And the percentage of EA's revenue coming from digital sales is approximately equal to Valve's revenue from Steam.

[joshnickerson]

Are these the same analysts who think Nintendo should publish games on competing platforms?

[RARusk]

The irony is strong in this one.....

[Gamevet]

This whole idea was started with this.

http://msupdate.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/nx-ea-electronic-arts-stock-price-surges-why/




Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA)’s share price soared today by 6.13%, the most the stock has risen in the last four months. Average price ended the April 26 NASDAQ trading day at US$15.93. But why? Because reports are emerging that Tokyo-based free-to-play publisher Nexon Co. Ltd. are in talks to purchase the company. In the mean time, Nexon’s stock fell (TSO:3659) fell 2.31% to close the April 26 TSO trading day at 1,524JPY per share.

It is said that it was Nexon which contacted EA to try to work something out. Both companies are refusing to comment on the reports and rumours. “Nexon has a policy of never commenting on rumors,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. Jeff Brown, an Electronic Arts spokesman, said in an e-mail that the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.

In the calendar year ended December 31, 2011 Nexon reported revenues of US$1.12 billion while EA is expected to report revenues of US$4.17 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012. EA has a net worth of US$4 billion while Nexon has a net worth of US$6.8 billion.

Experts are saying that the deal either wasn’t even being considered in the first place or that it won’t work out and I agree with their reasoning. Research different experts’ views on this. We’ll just have to wait for these rumours to be dispelled or confirmed and see how this acquisition discussion ends up.

I'd be shocked if EA was taken over by a free-to-play game publisher like Nexon.

[WCP]

EA's revenue is approximately 4 times the size of Valve's. And the percentage of EA's revenue coming from digital sales is approximately equal to Valve's revenue from Steam.

And you know this... how ?

I thought that Valve is a private company, and any guess about it's revenues, is just that... a guess. I kinda doubt that Valve could buy EA as well, but I still think Valve is making way more money than most people would assume.

[Leo_A]

They're estimates, but there's a good bit of information out there about the value of the company, their revenue from Steam, etc. I'm sure they're in the ballpark at the very least.

[Griking]

I'll be honest, as much as I dislike EA I'd hate to see them bought out by a Non US company.