Take-Two withdraws bid for Codemasters

Looks like Codemasters won't be under coming under the Take-Two umbrella, leaving EA free to acquire the company.

Take-Two has announced that following the December 14 announcement by the Board of Codemasters, where EA's offer to acquire the company was accepted, it has pulled its offer to acquire Codemasters.

Previously, Take-Two was entitled to pull the offer if Codemasters didn't hold a shareholder meeting on December 21, or twenty-two days after on January 12.

Because Codemasters shareholder meetings were not held on or before January 12, Take-Two has not extended this date. As a result, the co-operation agreement has automatically terminated in accordance with these terms.

On December 14, EA made a counter-offer to Codemasters for  $1.2 billion, which was more than the $994 million offer Take-Two put out in November.

Whether Take-Two was prepared to make a counter-offer isn't known, but since Codemasters' Board of Directors accepted EA's offer in December, this is likely why it didn't hold an additional meeting, causing Take-Two to lapse the offer due to the Court Meeting and General Meeting not being held.

The EA deal is expected to go through during the first quarter of 2021. The company will announce its Q3 results in February, so it's likely we will hear more about the deal during the call to investors.