March 10th, 2008
Infogrames To Grab Atari?
Only a few days after getting new forces ready for battle (I am talking about their new president, obviously), Infogrames announces a big move. Basically, this may fail, but probably everything will be sorted out somehow, since purchasing Atari entirely won't probably hurt anyone...
The news that emerged at the end of last week sounds like this - Infogrames came up with a non-binding offer to buy absolutely every single piece of Atari Inc. stock they don't already own. The price offered is $1.68 per share, and Atari's only response for the time being is that a special committee within its board of directors will review the offer and decide what to do about it.
In my opinion, this may prove as a smart move, since the Atari name is better known in the US, than Infogrames. Obviously, it must be approved, first of all, and then we'll see what happens next...
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Published by: Codrut Nistor in News
2 Comments on Infogrames To Grab Atari?
Posted by Shigeru 03/10/2008 5:02 pm
Not too surprising. Atari is in mortal danger of dropping off the publicly-traded stock register due to it abysmal returns over the last several years. With a net value of only 15 million (and pummeting), Atari has been a sitting duck (or is that a dead duck?) Atari also hasn't got any of the nostalgia it once had, as the company that bears the name isn't even remotely similar to the one that pioneered the home gaming experience int he first place.
Frankly, I'm just surprised the perennial ogre-heavyweight, EA, didn't throw money at them first. Atari's only hope to get out of their hole is to have a miracle release that catches on with gamers and launches a new franchise leader. I don;t see that happening, and I suspect Atari will soon become yet another company's property.
Posted by Codrut Nistor 03/10/2008 5:07 pm
I don't know what others think, but Unreal Tournament 3 is a very good title. Probably Atari simply fell behind in marketing power, because we all know that EA also ruined a lot of series (FIFA, NFS), but managed to pull out with a profit...