EA's next target, Ubisoft?

[kingofwale]

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/26/rumor-ea-eyeing-ubisoft-takeover-next/

 

according to Joystiq

 

Take this one with some mountainous mounds of salt, but a suspicious web site registration has some buzzing that EA might be considering a Take Two-style takeover bid for Ubisoft as its next potential expansion move. A poster over at Gamecyte noticed that a proxy registration for eaubisoft.com was set up by the same company on the same day as the registration for eatake2.com, the lobbying site created to convince Take Two shareholders to accept the company's unsolicited takeover bid (it did not succeed).

Of course, with proxy registration, it's impossible to know whether it was EA that actually registered the second site or if it's just the act of an overzealous domain camper. Still, given the close proximity of the registrations and the fact that EA already owns close to 25 percent of the voting shares in Ubisoft , the circumstantial evidence that EA was at least considering a move is significant (it wouldn't be the first such takeover attempt, either).

Ubisoft for its part, is focusing on license acquisition to spur its own growth in light of the Take Two offer. You know what they say ... when a bear like EA is chasing you, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the guy you're running with.