På fredagen steg #Electronic Arts aktiekurs på Nasdaqbörsen till dess högsta värde de senaste två åren, en direkt följd av uppköpet av utvecklarna #Bioware och #Pandemic, rapporterar Bloomberg. Det rekordstora beloppet som Electronic Arts betalade till den tidigare ägaren Elevation Partners, 5,29 miljarder kronor, gör affären till den i särklass största i sitt slag. Men analytiker menar att summan kan vara för hög och pekar samtidigt på att Electronic Arts VD John Riccitiello tidigare var knuten till Elevation Partners och bolaget VG Holdings, skriver Gamespot.
The price should also raise questions about [EA CEO and former Elevation Partners executive John] Riccitiello's relationship with [BioWare-Pandemic shell company] VG Holdings," Wilson wrote. "While he recused himself from the board for the final vote on the acquisition, we do not think that EA would have acquired VG Holdings without Ricitiello as CEO, or if it did, not for this price. We have not heard from our industry sources that this was a competitive bidding. While the acquisition will benefit Riccitiello to some extent, it benefits Elevation significantly and appears to be a concession to the other partners of Elevation because he left to go back to EA with his work in building a large-scale video game publisher only partially complete.
