Take -Two Interactive Software Inc, the holding company of Grand Theft Auto publisher Rockstar Games, is expected to disclose net revenues of up to US$5.9bn (£4.74bn) when in its full-year earnings call due on Wednesday, May 17.
This marks a significant uptick from previous guidance given in 2022, due to Take-Two’s US$12.7bn acquisition of Zynga, developer of massively popular mobile games Words With Friends and Farmville, in May 2022.
Two-Two will swing to a per-share loss estimated between US$4.50 and US$4.40 mainly because of a significant increase in operating expenses.
But Take-Two will likely focus on underlying earnings to strip out certain expenses related to the Zynga acquisition, with EBITDA expected to come in between US$102mln and US$122mln.
In addition to details on the next instalment of Rockstar’s AAA+ Grand Theft Auto franchise, which hasn’t seen a fresh release in nearly 10 years, investors will be keen to hear of Take-Two’s M&A strategy going forward.
Zynga was a big-ticket takeover, but Take-Two might be the target of a takeover itself.
Rumours swirled about earlier this year that Sony was looking for a major takeover target to rival Microsoft’s US$69bn Activision Blizzard pitch, with Take-Two seen as a possibility (even if its enterprise value is around a third of Activision Blizzard’s)
The UK competition watchdog famously put a plug on the Microsoft deal, at least for the meantime, but with M&A seemingly hot in the video games market recently, investors will be curious regardless.
Takre-Two is also responsible for top-tier gaming franchise Red Dead Redemption and the 2K sporting titles.