The worst possible outcome of THQ's "reverse stock split" appears to be coming true.
THQ executed a "reverse stock split" in July, converting every ten shares of stock in the company into one, pushing the price up to $5.80 in the process. The move was made to avoid a looming NASDAQ delisting and it worked, but it carried with it a risk of even greater trouble ahead if the stock sunk back down to its pre-split low, because at that point there'd be nothing left to do but burn it, bury it and salt the earth.
Alas, in the wake of a genuinely ugly earnings call and a shocking refusal by the company to provide sales and earnings guidance for FY2013 and beyond, that's exactly what has happened. THQ's share price had been sliding since the reverse split but took a gut-sucking nosedive of more than 47 percent this morning to wind up at $1.60 at last check. The company's market capitalization, a rough measure of its overall value, stood at just north of $42 million at the end of June; it's now less than $11.6 million.
The trouble for THQ is that the reverse stock split was a dodge, a mechanism for artificially inflating the price without actually changing anything. But it was a purely short-term maneuver that required a seriously impressive follow-up to convince investors that a meaningful turnaround was underway. That didn't happen, and now the company is in an even worse position, with very few "Plan B" options available.
So THQ's fate will depend on the success of thier upcoming cluster of releases.
Though quite frankly, they probably deserved it for thinking that uDraw was a good idea.
Andy Shandy: How did it actually end up getting this bad anyway?
Started with Homefront, a Modern Military FPS (thats a genre now) which only distinguished itself with a marketing campaign which i think they were fined for after that stunt in San Francisco. As we all know it flopped and its home studio was gutted for it.
Well, I WANTED to play "South Park - The Stick of Truth" and maybe even the new "Metro 2033" game, and I had hoped for "Saints Row 4," but THQ appears to be TH Through.
Fappy: I'm beginning to think a buy-out will be the best case scenario for THQ at this point.
Which is not really a comforting thought, considering who the primary buy-out'ers might be.
Ha! For some reason the Imperial March just popped into my head.
Sorry for the fans, but if things swing in that direction, THQ brought it on themselves. To their credit it would be because of necessity and not simply selling out like "other" companies chose to.
Which is not really a comforting thought, considering who the primary buy-out'ers might be.
I don't want to think about it :(
Let us all pray that Valve could perhaps find some of the stuff interesting enough to make sure it doesn't fall into EA's grubby mitts.
Quite frankly Valve isnt in the habit of purchasing companies. I think Take Two would be best suited to buy them, if only for thier remaining quality developers.
Let us all pray that Valve could perhaps find some of the stuff interesting enough to make sure it doesn't fall into EA's grubby mitts.
Quite frankly Valve isnt in the habit of purchasing companies. I think Take Two would be best suited to buy them, if only for thier remaining quality developers.
Hmm...Take Two could work quite well. I just completely forgot about them.
Anyone besides EA or Activision would be preferable.
Now I just really hope CD Project saved up enough rupees for a substantial shopping spree, if any of the others pick up their tab... the next few years could be looking rather grim.
Oh Christ, I completely forgot about the mess that was the uDraw thing. Who the bloody hell though that was a good idea? XD
Let us all pray that Valve could perhaps find some of the stuff interesting enough to make sure it doesn't fall into EA's grubby mitts.
Quite frankly Valve isnt in the habit of purchasing companies. I think Take Two would be best suited to buy them, if only for thier remaining quality developers.
Hmm...Take Two could work quite well. I just completely forgot about them.
Anyone besides EA or Activision would be preferable.
To be honest i dont think they would take interest in a publisher that deals exclusively in non-generic games with a mediocre sales history.
EA might if they felt like owning the IPs of yet more MMFPS's, but i doubt THQ would sell out to them if they could avoid it. Its well known what happens to developers at EA when they think you underperform, and what happens to franchises when they think you could do better.
Also i think Relic would sooner perform collective seppuku rather than be forced to release games exclusively on Origin.
I hope that if they go under the good games (the ones I like :P) get picked up by another group. They did make some risky games and I guess it has come back to get them.
Well Volition shouldn't have played Russian Roulette with an automatic when it came to the Red Faction and Saints Row franchises.
Seriously they pulled the same BS twice. RF:Guerrilla was great, then they took out anything that made the game great and made RF:Armageddon. Did the same thing with Saints Row 2 to SR3. AND they tried to use it as a DLC money machine. They can die for all I care, Relic and Vigil needs to stay running though. They actually make decent games.
Tell that to Relic Entertainment, Vigil Games and Volition, who are all genuinely talented developers that will be affected by THQ's mismanagement.
But that'd take empathy. Don't have time to have empathy when you have smartass comments to make! Everyone knows that.
Oh I've got empathy, I just prefer not to waste it on people who make mediocre games.
So Homeworld, the Dawn of War Series, Company of Heroes, Darksiders and the Metro Franchise are all mediocre to you? Or are you just being petty for the sake of it?
This sucks, THQ was one of the last big publishers who seemed willing to make games that weren't just modern military shooters. Ill bet the lesson that the industry will learn from this is that they didn't copy call of duty enough.
But that'd take empathy. Don't have time to have empathy when you have smartass comments to make! Everyone knows that.
Oh I've got empathy, I just prefer not to waste it on people who make mediocre games.
So Homeworld, the Dawn of War Series, Company of Heroes, Darksiders and the Metro Franchise are all mediocre to you? Or are you just being petty for the sake of it?
Well Darksiders was yes, I'm not saying that they haven't made good games but you shouldn't be surprised when your stock does poorly after your games do poorly. There were bad business decisions that were out of their hands and I still feel sorry for Relic, Vigil and even Volition, but not THQ.
DVS BSTrD: Oh I've got empathy, I just prefer not to waste it on people who make mediocre games.
So Homeworld, the Dawn of War Series, Company of Heroes, Darksiders and the Metro Franchise are all mediocre to you? Or are you just being petty for the sake of it?
Well Darksiders was yes, I'm not saying that they haven't made good games but you shouldn't be surprised when your stock does poorly after your games do poorly. There were bad business decisions that were out of their hands and I still feel sorry for Relic, Vigil and even Volition, but not THQ.
Then throw your bile at the people who deserve it, not the guys getting fucked over because of someone else's incompetence. THQ doesn't make the games (most of the time), but they make the publishing decisions.
Honestly, I really don't care about THQ. That company can burn for pushing just as hard as EA with their Project $10 equivalent, not to mention all the shovelware they made on the GBA.
Seriously, am I the only one around here whose main experience with THQ has been shovelware? I know they have some real games, but it doesn't seem to be at the core of their business plan.
THQ Stock Price Crashes
The worst possible outcome of THQ's "reverse stock split" appears to be coming true.
THQ executed a "reverse stock split" in July, converting every ten shares of stock in the company into one, pushing the price up to $5.80 in the process. The move was made to avoid a looming NASDAQ delisting and it worked, but it carried with it a risk of even greater trouble ahead if the stock sunk back down to its pre-split low, because at that point there'd be nothing left to do but burn it, bury it and salt the earth.
Alas, in the wake of a genuinely ugly earnings call and a shocking refusal by the company to provide sales and earnings guidance for FY2013 and beyond, that's exactly what has happened. THQ's share price had been sliding since the reverse split but took a gut-sucking nosedive of more than 47 percent this morning to wind up at $1.60 at last check. The company's market capitalization, a rough measure of its overall value, stood at just north of $42 million at the end of June; it's now less than $11.6 million.
The trouble for THQ is that the reverse stock split was a dodge, a mechanism for artificially inflating the price without actually changing anything. But it was a purely short-term maneuver that required a seriously impressive follow-up to convince investors that a meaningful turnaround was underway. That didn't happen, and now the company is in an even worse position, with very few "Plan B" options available.
Sources: NASDAQ, YCharts
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