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Take-Two has acquired mobile and social games giant Zynga, purchasing all of the company’s outstanding shares in a deal worth approximately $12.7 billion.
The purchase price represents a premium of 64% to Zynga’s closing share price on January 7, 2022.
With Zynga now under their belt, Take-Two has drastically increased its mobile portfolio, bringing hugely popular titles such as Merge Dragons and Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells.
Zynga now joins fellow mobile studio Nordeus, which was acquired by Take-Two last year, as the company seeks to further expand its mobile offering.
Following the acquistion, Zynga’s management team, led by Frank Gibeau and Zynga’s President of Publishing, Bernard Kim, will drive the strategic direction for Take-Two’s mobile efforts, as well as overseeing the company’s integration into Take-Two.
Zynga will also expand its Board of Directors to 10 members upon the closing of the transaction.
“We are thrilled to announce our transformative transaction with Zynga, which significantly diversifies our business and establishes our leadership position in mobile, the fastest growing segment of the interactive entertainment industry,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “This strategic combination brings together our best-in-class console and PC franchises, with a market-leading, diversified mobile publishing platform that has a rich history of innovation and creativity. Zynga also has a highly talented and deeply experienced team, and we look forward to welcoming them into the Take-Two family in the coming months. As we combine our complementary businesses and operate at a much larger scale, we believe that we will deliver significant value to both sets of stockholders, including $100 million of annual cost synergies within the first two years post-closing and at least $500 million of annual Net Bookings opportunities over time.”
“Combining Zynga’s expertise in mobile and next-generation platforms with Take-Two’s best-in-class capabilities and intellectual property will enable us to further advance our mission to connect the world through games while achieving significant growth and synergies together,” said Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga. “I am proud of our team’s hard work to deliver a strong finish to 2021, with one of the best performances in Zynga’s history. We are incredibly excited to have found a partner in Take-Two that shares our commitment to investing in our players, amplifying our creative culture, and generating more value for stockholders. With this transformative transaction, we begin a new journey which will allow us to create even better games, reach larger audiences and achieve significant growth as a leader in the next era of gaming.”
