11 Million Shipped Total; T2 Earnings Revised
Take Two’s quarterly conference call revealed more good news for Grand Theft Auto IV. After a $500 million blockbuster of a first week with 6 million copies sold, the company announced that a total of 8.5 million units have been sold, with 11 million shipped to stores.
One can directly credit GTAIV to Take-Two’s monumental reversal of fortune. Last year the company posted Q2 losses of $51.2 million. In Q2 2008, they’ve hit profits of $98.2 million. Estimates for FY2008 have also been revised up. Revenue totaled $539.8 million for the quarter, compared with $205.4 million n Q2 2007.
On the turnaround, T2 chairman Strauss Zelnick said:
Take-Two’s performance has exceeded expectations through the first half of fiscal 2008, clearly demonstrating the creative, operational and financial strength of our business. Our results reflected the extraordinary success of Grand Theft Auto IV, the value of our catalog of titles, and our ongoing initiatives to improve the efficiency of our operations. We look forward to continuing to enhance stockholder value by building on our broad portfolio of internally developed and owned interactive entertainment brands, leveraging the opportunities in the current industry cycle, and operating our business in an effective manner.
Noteworthy in the results is T2′s disclosure that it spent $5.3 million in legal fees to off Electronic Arts’s hostile takeover attempts. Adding to that, Mr. Zelnick said in the conference call that “discussions” were underway with several interested buyers regarding an acquisition of the company:
At the time of EA’s highly conditional, unsolicited tender offer, we emphasized our board’s commitment to explore all strategic alternatives, including remaining independent, and pursuing business combinations with third parties… we’re actively engaged in that process now. In fact, we have had and continue to have formal discussions with a number of interested parties.
No clues were given as to who the interested parties may be. We will follow developments on that front when new information comes in.
By the way, Take Two stock closed up over a percent in trading today, and now sits well above EA’s buyout offer, to $27.65 a share.
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