Electronic Arts (EA) recently pursued a merger with NBC Universal as Comcast CEO Brian Roberts reportedly reached out to EA CEO Andrew Wilson with a proposal to integrate the entertainment media company with the gaming giant.
However, the proposal didn't push through due to disagreements concerning the price of the merger and how it would be structured.
Mergers and acquisition has been a trend in the games industry right now. EA reportedly spoke with other big companies such as Disney, Apple, and Amazon about potentially being acquired, according to IGN Southeast Asia.
EA Negotiated With Media Companies for a Potential Merger
"In recent years, as media companies have taken greater interest in the rapidly growing gaming industry, Wilson and Electronic Arts have held talks with a number of different potential suitors, including Disney, Apple and Amazon, sources with knowledge of those talks told me," Puck's veteran media reporter, Dylan Beyers, wrote in a report.
Apparently, EA's deal with NBCUniversal got the farthest along. Roberts was looking to spin off the entertainment conglomerate into a separate entity with EA, as stated by Beyers.
Both NBCUniversal and EA's lawyers and bankers negotiated for weeks on the possible merger of the companies, according to Puck. However, negotiations eventually fell apart over price.
Reportedly, the general proposal would be for the Roberts family to take control of the combined company, but with current EA CEO Andrew Wilson running it.
According to IGN Southeast Asia, if Wilson had been the CEO of the merged company, then the current NBCUniversal CEO, Jeff Shell, reportedly would have been given a higher role within Comcast. There was some information that Shell was involved in the discussions as well.
There's been a mania of video game studio acquisitions over the past year. In January, Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two announced that it was buying Zynga for $12.7 billion, and Microsoft announced it was planning to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, according to Kotaku.
Sony followed weeks later with a deal to buy Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2, for $3.6 billion.
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EA has Some Conditions for a Merger to Take Place
According to IGN Southeast Asia, the interest of EA in acquisition has reportedly increased since Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard earlier this year. However, a primary concern for any merger for EA will allow Wilson to stay as CEO of the combined companies.
"Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale, and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal. Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company," Beyers wrote.
According to Kotaku, in an earnings call in February, Wilson implied the company was focused on making acquisitions rather than being acquired. In fact, EA spent $5 billion over the last year acquiring studios to increase its size.
But now, it seems that EA has been actively pursuing other ways of increasing up. EA reportedly met with Disney as recently as March to pursue a "more meaningful relationship" other than licensing deals.
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