Take-Two Interactive’s annual shareholder meeting went smoothly, with a significant majority of investors supporting the direction and management of the company.
In a show of shareholder confidence, Take-Two’s Board of Directors was re-elected and a proposal to amend the company’s Incentive Stock Plan was approved, as was the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Take-Two’s independent registered public accounting firm for the 2008 fiscal year. According to a statement released by Take-Two following the meeting, all of the proposals detailed in the company’s proxy filing were approved by “a significant majority” of stockholders.
“Today’s vote demonstrates stockholders’ confidence in management and the Board of Directors of Take-Two,” said Chairman Strauss Zelnick. “The Board and management remain committed to acting in the best interests of stockholders. We are confident in the significant growth potential of Take-Two and in the unique value of our business given our strong position in this dynamic industry.”
Zelnick also reiterated his opposition to Electronic Arts’ efforts to acquire the company, calling it “highly opportunistic” and saying the timing of the offer “was specifically designed to capture the benefit of those (positive) initiatives before they became apparent and reflected in our stock price,” according to a Kotaku report. In reference to the 2K Sports brand, he said, “EA’s offer doesn’t remotely compensate stockholders for the value of the sports business to EA.” But he added that Take-Two remained open to the possibility of negotiations in the future, repeating his earlier claim that the company has received “numerous indications of interest from third parties.”
And on the game front, GamePolitics says Zelnick revealed that he had seen advance copies of reviews of Grand Theft Auto IV, and while he did not disclose the sources, he claimed the review scores were perfect across the board. “We’ve already received numerous reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores,” he said. “My mom couldn’t write better reviews.”
This year’s meeting was unusual because Take-Two elected to ban new stockholders from attending and voting, presumably to avoid putting too much power in the hands of investors who have purchased the stock since EA began its takeover attempt. A Reuters report says that only stockholders who have held shares in the company since February 19 would be allowed to attend the meeting, a situation EA was said to be unhappy about.
Published: Apr 18, 2008 02:05 pm