Take-Two has completed its $12.7 billion acquisition of mobile games giant Zynga, the company announced on Monday. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Zynga shareholders received $3.50 in cash and 0.0406 Take-Two common stock per share of Zynga common stock. The deal, first announced in January, will bring Zynga’s popular games under Take-Two ownership, including Farmville and Words With Friends.
“We are excited to complete our combination with Zynga, which is a critical step to exponentially increase our net bookings from mobile, the fastest growing segment in interactive entertainment, while also providing us with substantial cost synergies and revenue opportunities,” said Take-Two. CEO Strauss Zelnick in a statement. “Each of our teams has a strong history of operational execution, and together we expect to improve our financial profile through increased scale and profitability, paving the way for us to deliver strong shareholder value.”
It was previously announced that Zelnick will lead the larger company with Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau. Zynga’s president of publishing, Bernard Kim, was set to work alongside Gibeau, but will leave Zynga at the end of this month to become Match Group’s CEO.
“We’re excited about Zynga’s next-generation mobile platform, free-to-play expertise, diverse range of games, and incredible team to join the Take-Two family,” said Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau. “We are eager to continue building an unparalleled portfolio of games that will reach broader markets and lead to continued growth for this next chapter of Zynga’s history.”
The acquisition brings together two gaming powerhouses, as Take-Two is known for console and PC games, while Zynga largely defined the mobile gaming genre. While Take-Two already has a number of mobile game titles and has expanded its franchises to mobile, this will give the company a significantly greater stake in the space.
As for Zynga, the combination with Take-Two, which also publishes Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, NBA 2K, BioShock and more, will give it a large library of franchises and IP to build new mobile gaming experiences. Likewise, Zynga’s IP can now find new traction in different sizes and different screens.
The deal marks one of several major gaming acquisitions announced earlier this year. A week after news of Take-Two and Zynga fell, Microsoft announced it would acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal, which includes the company’s net cash. Less than two weeks later, Sony announced it has acquired Bungie, the studio responsible for the creation of Halo and Destiny, in a $3.6 billion deal.
