Mad Money Host Places Take-Two Chair on "Wall of Shame"

[Logan Frederick]

Mad Money Host Places Take-Two Chair on "Wall of Shame"

Mr. Mad Money, Jim Cramer of CNBC, has added Strauss Zelnick to the Chief Executive Officer "Wall of Shame" for rejecting Electronic Arts' generous takeover bid.

Reserved for shameful executives who have destroyed shareholder value, the "Wall of Shame" now stars Strauss Zelnick, the Chairman of Take-Two Interactive, who recently rejected a handsome acquisition offer from rival Electronic Arts for $26 a share, about $2 billion. Cramer called this "an offer no sane man can refuse. But Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's chairman did just that...."

Take-Two not only fought the acquisition, but reassured investors that "EA's highly conditional offer fails to compensate our stockholders for our exceptional portfolio of intellectual property, world-class creative resources, and our successful revitalization initiatives."

Now with the stock lower than it was the day before the original offer, Cramer can only label Zelnick as the "Groucho Marx" of chairmen.

Cramer, in a completely serious tone, gave Zelnick a piece of management advice: "In this market, when you get a bid, you say yes."

"Welcome to the Wall of Shame, Strauss Zelnick," stated Cramer as he taped a head shot of Zelnick onto a board adorned with Yahoo's Jerry Yang, who also refused a takeover bid from Microsoft at the expense of its shareholders. "You managed to take a sure thing, a $25 stock and turn it into a $13 one. That takes talent."

Source: CNBC [http://www.cnbc.com/id/27282024], GamePolitics [http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/10/21/mad-money039s-cramer-adds-take-two039s-zelnick-wall-shame]

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[Angron]

well ive never heard of this guy but i think hes a fool (and looks like one), im extremely glad they turned it down, EA is too big for its own boots...
plus rather than have EA own the gaming industry why cant we have a bit of competition, it makes good games, well, its lookn less and less like they are making good games...

im also glad Yahoo didnt except Microsofts bid, but thats alit of topic...

 

[Cousin_IT]

From a purely financial/shareholders perspective he's right to criticize Zelnick. T2 wont see an offer like that again for a long time if ever. But while its not wrong to call Zelnick a fool; I for one breathed a sigh of relieve when his stubbornness stopped the EA behamoth increasing its almost monopoly of the market with its souless image.

 

[thisbymaster]

Because the CEO should only care about the stock price and completely ignore those meaningless ants calls customers. In fact he should be firing people right now just to bring the stock price back up. Oh right, the CEO's first and foremost concern should be the quality production of products not the daily ups and downs of the stock price. If more people thought like this instead of like that moron on mad money. The stock market wouldn't be such a train wreak.

 

[Frybird]

Isn't that the guy who said that Stark Industries is suicidal because they stopped building weapons?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Awesome, Jim "Don't sell your Bear Stearns stock" Cramer has an opinion about a video games publisher.

 

[Logan Frederick]

Awesome, Jim "Don't sell your Bear Stearns stock" Cramer has an opinion about a video games publisher.

I thought that whole Cramer/Bear STerns thing was debunked the day after the video hit youtube. Someone asked about the Bear Sterns BANK ACCOUNTS, not the stock. The bank accounts were and are fine. He even predicted they would be saved by a takeover, which was true.

Not to say all his picks are great or he's a market master, but I hate when anti-someone fervor starts stretching beyond the truth.

And remember, Cramer's entire job is to see rising stock prices. From his perspective and position, the Take-Two deal falling through was bad because Take-Two has not increased shareholder value.

If the acquisition fell through and Take-Two started doing quite well, which it still could, then T2 will be justified. Otherwise, Cramer is right in this instance.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Awesome, Jim "Don't sell your Bear Stearns stock" Cramer has an opinion about a video games publisher.

I thought that whole Cramer/Bear STerns thing was debunked the day after the video hit youtube. Someone asked about the Bear Sterns BANK ACCOUNTS, not the stock. The bank accounts were and are fine. He even predicted they would be saved by a takeover, which was true.

Not to say all his picks are great or he's a market master, but I hate when anti-someone fervor starts stretching beyond the truth.

Okie dokie. Or his take on Wachovia which he himself admitted was biased.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/30/jim-cramer-admits-i-screw_n_130602.html

*edit*

Not trying to be pissy or anything, I was just making the point that he's wrong plenty and for a variety of reasons. He's also way more experienced or informed than me or most people.

 

[Bretty]

A CEOs responsibility is purely to the Board of Directors. And the Board of Directors to the Shareholders..

T2 screwed up big time. EA is a great company with some awesome potential. If you hate EA it is because you do not understand how the business works. EA provides a HUGE amount of logistics to development companies who would be lucky to have a fraction of them.

EA gave them a great deal and the CEO wanted an unrealistically larger amount. You can see how his decision was accepted by the stock market; a 30% drop!

Kramer is a clever guy and worth watching if you are into investing your money.

 

[Logan Frederick]

And to anyone thinking Take-Two is looking out for customers and shareholders, Cramer emphasizes in the video that the CEOs failed because they haven't provided value, as reflected in the stock price which moves based on company earnings based on consumers buying good games!

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I think a large part of the T2 plunge is overreaction from those trying to make a quick buck on the takeover. Then again, I'm not a face-value investor; I buy based on dividend yield, not on the potential to flip it to a "greater idiot". I'm tempted to actually grab a chunk myself except that I don't have enough liquidity to cover that and my other plans at the moment.

-- Steve

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

EA gave them a great deal and the CEO wanted an unrealistically larger amount. You can see how his decision was accepted by the stock market; a 30% drop!

Kramer is a clever guy and worth watching if you are into investing your money.

The stock of a company always drops after a bid falls through. Claiming that Cramer is right because their stock plummeted after the refusal is short-sighted. For whatever reason, Zelnick thinks they're going to be making big bucks once they get some new products ready. Time will tell.

 

[MecaEcco]

This from the guy that told everyone that Bear Stearns wasn't going down the day before it went down.


His exact quote was that it was too big to go down...well apparently not. He was wrong about Bear Stearns.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

This from the guy that told everyone that Bear Stearns wasn't going down the day before it went down.

I just got called out on that. Apparently they issued a correction with Cramer explaining he was saying to not sell the accounts, not the stocks.

 

[Bretty]

Actually the 30% stock drop was weeks after the decision was made...

And turning down a take over bid has as much chance to increase the value as it does decrease it...

And Meca.... did you read the previous reply covering the Bear issue? Insured Accounts was what he was talking about...

 

[MecaEcco]

This from the guy that told everyone that Bear Stearns wasn't going down the day before it went down.

I just got called out on that. Apparently they issued a correction with Cramer explaining he was saying to not sell the accounts, not the stocks.

Watch kids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8

 

[MecaEcco]

watch for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8

 

[MecaEcco]

watch for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8

And his quantification here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGcF8dnTV0&feature=related) is complete crap when you see what he actually said.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Actually the 30% stock drop was weeks after the decision was made...

And turning down a take over bid has as much chance to increase the value as it does decrease it...

And Meca.... did you read the previous reply covering the Bear issue? Insured Accounts was what he was talking about...

Golly, there's nothing else going on in the American economy that might make a companies stocks drop except the EA bid. Nothing at all.

 

[MecaEcco]

Actually the 30% stock drop was weeks after the decision was made...

And turning down a take over bid has as much chance to increase the value as it does decrease it...

And Meca.... did you read the previous reply covering the Bear issue? Insured Accounts was what he was talking about...

Golly, there's nothing else going on in the American economy that might make a companies stocks drop except the EA bid. Nothing at all.

LOL