Square Enix has offered to buy Eidos for GBP 84.3 million (EUR 93.2 million).
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Background to the offer
The future of Eidos, formerly badged SCi, has been uncertain ever since an initial acquisition bid was launched in September 2007 which the company said it was considering.
That process dragged on, with no better offers coming in for the publisher, until early 2008 - by which time the company stock has fallen to a fraction of its previous value, and the former management team resigned.
Phil Rogers then took over as CEO with the task of steadying the ship and went about restructuring the business into a studio-led set-up, as well as entering into a strategic partnership with Warner Bros, which saw the media giant take a slice of the company and responsibility for US distribution.
Speculation over further acquisition bids continued, with Infogrames/Atari revealing that it had made a bid in the middle of last year which was rejected, while the directorship movements of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment president Kevin Tsujihara stoked the fire further.
The business didn't fare as well as expected over the Holiday trading period, following worse-than-expected sales of its flagship Tomb Raider title - blamed partly to distribution issues in the US - and the share price hit its lowest point in the middle of January, the point at which Square Enix submitted its offer.
Square Enix has offered to buy Eidos for GBP 84.3 million (EUR 93.2 million).
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Square Enix has offered to buy Eidos for GBP 84.3 million (EUR 93.2 million).
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Source: Eurogamer
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Background to the offer
The future of Eidos, formerly badged SCi, has been uncertain ever since an initial acquisition bid was launched in September 2007 which the company said it was considering.
That process dragged on, with no better offers coming in for the publisher, until early 2008 - by which time the company stock has fallen to a fraction of its previous value, and the former management team resigned.
Phil Rogers then took over as CEO with the task of steadying the ship and went about restructuring the business into a studio-led set-up, as well as entering into a strategic partnership with Warner Bros, which saw the media giant take a slice of the company and responsibility for US distribution.
Speculation over further acquisition bids continued, with Infogrames/Atari revealing that it had made a bid in the middle of last year which was rejected, while the directorship movements of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment president Kevin Tsujihara stoked the fire further.
The business didn't fare as well as expected over the Holiday trading period, following worse-than-expected sales of its flagship Tomb Raider title - blamed partly to distribution issues in the US - and the share price hit its lowest point in the middle of January, the point at which Square Enix submitted its offer.
Square Enix has offered to buy Eidos for GBP 84.3 million (EUR 93.2 million).
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Square Enix has offered to buy Eidos for GBP 84.3 million (EUR 93.2 million).
That works out at 32 pence per share - 258 per cent more than they were worth on January 14th, when the bid was made. It's also 91 per cent more than they've been worth, on average, over the last three months. Eidos' board of directors has agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.
Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada said it's all about expanding into Western markets, and of course Tomb Raider. "Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers," he said.
Source: Eurogamer