Market Rap: 

No Regrets, No Responsibility: Strauss Zelnick, Take Two Interactive's Chairman

By Perry H. Rod, Published: July 20th

“In terms of the release date, no, we’re confirming the release date [of Grand Theft Auto 4] and we’re going to meet the release dates, so let me just say that clearly.”

Less than two months later, Zelnick announced the game would be delayed for six months.  The stock immediately fell nearly 25%, and fell 40% in that one week period.

"To this day, I don’t know what [EA] was up to. Everyone knew they couldn’t have been unmindful of the fact that their initial offer couldn’t have been a final offer… It’s hard to imagine what we could have done better. My job is to ensure value for the shareholders."

Take Two lost over half of its value in the months after EA announced it was giving up on its hostile bid attempt.

"So far, we're not seeing any negative influence of the overall economy on sales of our titles.''

Just a little over a month later, as if he was not aware of his own company’s financial situation, Take Two significantly reduced guidance based on soft sales.  The stock which had been trading in the 12’s would drop to a price of under $6.

"We can’t be unmindful of the fact that the market was 13,000 and the market is now 8,800," he said. "We’re a market participant and there’s no one who is holding stock now that hasn't been affected. We take responsibility for what we do— good, bad or indifferent—but we can’t take responsibility for the market."

Mr. Zelnick does not engage in regrets, if you recall.  But he also apparently does not make mistakes. The 80% drop in his stock - from $26 to under $6 – according to Mr. Zelnick – was directly attributable to a 35% down stock market, and nothing besides.

"It’s reasonable for them [the investment community] to expect us to deliver a breakeven performance in a year when we are not releasing a major GTA title. This is that year. They want to see what we can do. I think it’s appropriate for a company to be rewarded to deliver consistent results."

Less than one month later Take Two announced significantly lower non-GAAP EPS guidance of $(0.80)-$(0.95) from an earlier expectation of .00 to .20.  Needless to say, Take Two under Mr. Zelnick’s leadership, did not meet his own previous month’s challenge.

If you’re keeping score, in a two year period, Mr Zelnick managed to, on three occasions, make vital statements that were within a matter of weeks proven to be either fabricated or just incredibly incompetent (or worse).  Mr. Zelnick managed to resist and reject a buyout offer that was triple the company’s current share price while claiming other interested parties who never emerged.  And Mr. Zelnick, meanwhile, tripled his management company’s compensation for these efforts because, after all, he does not engage in regrets and does not “take responsibility for the market.”

These statements and others strongly suggest that investors should proceed with extreme caution with any investment that involves Strauss Zelnick.  His performance so far as an executive manager of a publicly traded company  is one of the worst I have ever seen in my professional investment experience.

Their stock falls all the time when they delay games. Just happened with Bioshock 2.

I hope the next GTA sells at least 15 million.

Actually wait, this one was here first.

GTA is on the decline IMO. Saleswise and gameplay wise.

Great company to invest in for the very short term, but there's no way I'd keep my money in there for longer than a month.

The trick is to invest before the next buyout offer arrives. :P

What i said in the other thread:

I said the whole thing was BS when it was happening.

A few people on this site knew this was basically the reason.

But everyone was too happy about it not happeneing because of their blind EA hate.

Well the reason GTA sold so well is that the ps2 had a larger userbase, if the 360 sold 50 million imagine how big the next GTA will be. GTA IV did really good and loved.