Eidos parent company SCi has announced it has terminated potential takeover negotiations, sending its stock price into a tailspin.
GameDaily reported the announcement, which came after discussions with several potential suitors that had been ongoing since September 2007. The company did not receive a formal buyout offer within the time frame it had set. In a press release, SCi said, “The Company is announcing today that the Board no longer believes that a sale of the Company for its full value is likely to be achieved at the current time and has reached the view that it is not in the Company’s or its Shareholders’ interests to prolong these discussions furthers and therefore offer-related discussions have been terminated today.”
“However, as a result of these discussions certain commercial and strategic opportunities have emerged which the Company is continuing to explore and progress.”
SCi also announced that Tomb Raider: Underworld, along with three other titles, will be delayed into the fourth quarter of 2008. The move means SCi is now expected to show an operating loss for the full 2008 fiscal year, but the company justified the move in its statement, saying, “The Board believes that these simultaneous multi-platform launches in the key buying period, optimizes the value that these franchises can delivery to the Company over the long term.”
GamesIndustry.biz has reported that SCi’s stock price dropped sharply in the wake of the pullout, nosediving by over 56 percent to $1.15 per share, from the previous day’s closing amount of $2.64. The per-share price is the lowest seen by the company since early 2003.
