SEC takes on Take-Two...again

  • By Brendan Sinclair, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
  • Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:46 am PT

Publisher to fully cooperate with investigation relating to stock option grants made over the last decade.

Not all of Take-Two's legal woes of late have been fueled by the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee scandal. Today, the company announced that it had received notice that it was the subject of an "informal non-public investigation" by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in regards to stock option grants the company has made dating back to the beginning of 1997.

This is not the first time the SEC has looked into Take-Two's business dealings. A 2001 SEC investigation into the publisher's accounting practices stretched into June of 2005, when Take-Two settled the dispute for $7.5 million.

In a terse statement, Take-Two announced that it had "initiated an internal review of the Company's option grants, led by a committee consisting of independent board members who have retained independent legal counsel and accountants to assist in the review."

Take-Two also said it would "fully cooperate in the [SEC's] informal investigation." However, said compliance did little to assuage nervous traders. As of press time, the publisher's share price was trading at $9.67, a 52-week low for the once-hot stock. In July 2005, Take-Two stock was valued at $28.16.

42 Comments

  • jojoforpres

    Posted Dec 12, 2006 4:04 am PT

    GS_darkplayer said:
    Why they are sueing for hot coffee. It was a dam mod. Only way is to that. If person made a mod like that they and ther famliy have die in the name of Jesus christ. Becoues to them they deserived to die in his name even all gamers should die in the name of jesus christ. And that fact. it like poeple believe in same relegion as Ben laden should die in the name of Jesus christ. Becoues they think gamer and poeple in the sam faith as ben laden are evil and love to mdduer poeple in the name of satan. And they also think they worshup satan too.

    I'm sorry, what the hell are you talking about? I think this is just a lame duck grab at the company’s stability. It's as if some force outside of the SEC is encouraging them to harass Take-Two. Food for thought...

  • Enigma2K99

    Posted Jul 14, 2006 6:44 pm PT

    Don't matter wether you love em or hate em... next year, when the next GTA comes out... they're gonna get PAID.

  • rodrigo_br

    Posted Jul 11, 2006 11:49 am PT

    i guess EA or some other publisher is payin these SEC guys to keep investigating TT, i mean, they've already did this investigation some time ago and there isn't anything wrong...

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Jul 11, 2006 8:00 am PT

    When will this monsters leave Take Two alone? They bring some of the best like GTA:SA and Oblivion and are treated like evil criminals!!!

  • TheGrandMiG

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 7:09 pm PT

    man take-two has problems

  • rynmls

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 6:42 pm PT

    too sad for take two all are against them...

  • cjthemaster

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 6:28 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • cutter892

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 4:26 pm PT

    To GS_darkplayer, Hot Coffee was not a mod it was content that was in the game to begin with but was made unacessable. Rock Star/Take Two just left this in the game instead of taking it out. If they would have done that in the first place we wouldn't be dealing with all the Hot Coffee hooplaa. On the story it-self this really does suck for Take Two. As long as they were on the level with there books they will be fine. If they were not I don't think they can handle or survive another scandel. There was GTA in general (people b*tching about the violence), Manhunt, and Hot Coffee (were still seeing the beging of this one). If this turns into something it could kill Take Two.

  • Bio_Spark

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 4:05 pm PT

    Wait... is this an actual FINANCIAL scandal, rather than a "moral" one? What on earth has happened here? This can't be the same company...

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 3:34 pm PT

    man, I think that company is curse or something.

  • PazUSA

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 3:09 pm PT

    Devilwillcry - "SONY's probably behind this for not getting exclusivity for GTA!"

    what a moronic thing to say. Sony would never stoop that low, that is more of a Microsoft thing"

    It's a joke Dude - lighten up!

  • GS_darkplayer

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 2:36 pm PT

    Why they are sueing for hot coffee. It was a dam mod. Only way is to that. If person made a mod like that they and ther famliy have die in the name of Jesus christ. Becoues to them they deserived to die in his name even all gamers should die in the name of jesus christ. And that fact. it like poeple believe in same relegion as Ben laden should die in the name of Jesus christ. Becoues they think gamer and poeple in the sam faith as ben laden are evil and love to mdduer poeple in the name of satan. And they also think they worshup satan too.

  • niceaznguy721

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:56 pm PT

    no offense gcuber123,but no one will give a **** about your opinion on the GTA series,its not the companiy that affects game sales,its gamers like us that affect it,but Killer7 and Okami are really good games,it is a shame that they happen to be underrated titles.

  • BigV25

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:55 pm PT

    Whoever said Sony would never stoop that low, they have stooped lower than that when talking about Nintendo.
    As for not getting exclusitivity on GTA thats tough beans. You never can get what you want especialy when it comes to video games.

  • CMakaCreative

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:47 pm PT

    Wow, some of you guys are way to spiteful. Why all the hate. This is why the world is the way it is. People hoping, maybe even praying to see others suffer...in this case, take two & rockstar go out of business. You better hope Karma isn't as b*tchy as they say it is. If you don't like what they put out, good for you, don't support them. It's not their fault that their "crappy" game sold millions of copies while other games which deserved the limelight & sell millions also didn't. Misery sure does like company.

  • Devilwillcry

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:43 pm PT

    "SONY's probably behind this for not getting exclusivity for GTA!"

    what a moronic thing to say. Sony would never stoop that low, that is more of a Microsoft thing Take 2 will definately bounce back when GTA IV launches in 2007. Wheather your a fan of the seires or not, GTA is one of the biggest grossing games in the entire industry. as for all the sony haters out there, that like the GTA series and hate Sony, remeber GTA started on Sony's PS1 when it was a no name series that MS would have never put on their Xbox, but sony beleived in them. so come GTA V (or w/e the next GTA is) if they can only do the game for one console, my money is on PS3. sony's loyalty to rockstar gaurantees that GTA will always be on sony's platforms (and never ported, either simultaneous or exclusive). no amount of money from MS will change that. The PS2 put GTA on the map, the Xbox just helped.

  • gcuber123

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:36 pm PT

    To Thatguytony,

    GTA doesn't offend me. I just angers me when I see a crappy series like GTA sell millions of copies, when original/innovative games like Okami or Killer 7 can barely sell a couple thousand. It gives me satisfaction to see T2 get their butts sued, and even more when they finally go out of business.

  • messin18

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    Rockstar won't be finding another publisher because take two OWNS them. And yes i'm buying up Take Two stock like crazy now. Once GTA4 launches and these troubles go away it'll soar again.

  • thatguytony

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    I love the people like gcuber 123 and Karjah who want to see Take 2 fail. Seems petty to me, just because you don't like the content of their games seems like a stupid reason to want to see them go belly up. Please spare us your moral superiority, just because the content of GTA offends you doesn't mean Take 2 should be persecuted. If they did something wrong, then off course they should be punished, but get over the Hot Coffee thing allready.

  • SNKrock

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:04 pm PT

    when on top, where else is there to go?

  • gcuber123

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 1:02 pm PT

    I hope T2 gets shut down.

  • drack48

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    I wonder if rocksatr will ever end up at another publishing houes?

  • PazUSA

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:52 pm PT

    SONY's probably behind this for not getting exclusivity for GTA!

  • gamer_10001

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:44 pm PT

    Take-Two stock $28.16 to $9.67; that must have been before Hot Cofee.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    once again....

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:31 pm PT

    Take 2 just can't get a break.

  • wingchunstudent

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:26 pm PT

    I didn't think you could look back into records more than 7 years.

    1997 + 5 = 2006

    Coincidence I think not.

  • xfactor19990

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:14 pm PT

    poor take 2

  • Karjah

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:09 pm PT

    good maybe they will shut down rockstar pack their bags and leave our game industry in peice before they give more wood to the idiots.

  • K1LLSWITCH

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 12:06 pm PT

    I could be wrong, but it sounds like it's all about updating the books. With all of these lawsuits and such, to me the investigation sounds like their tallying up everything to see how much Take Two's stock really is worth. Again, I could be wrong.

  • roadrunner1178

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:58 am PT

    I guess they are always going to be watched closely from now on.

  • jkovach82

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:21 am PT

    $9.67 / share price!!! now sounds like the time to invest before GTA4 hits the shelves...

  • MovieMan200x

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:14 am PT

    Wow, you'd think there was no other video game company out there other than Take-Two that has had shoddy business practices. EA, the biggest publisher in the nation, has had similar woes... but we never hear about that because they are not in the midst of a government fueled scandal. Leave Take-Two alone!!!

  • metdevthegamer

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:03 am PT

    Take-Two can never catch a break. They've suffered enough, I think.

  • Seymour47

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:01 am PT

    The hits just keep coming. Hehe.

  • A7Xfan

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 11:01 am PT

    uhh these guys can't catch a break though if they've been doing illegal practices i guess its good that it caught up with them.

  • Pablo620

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:58 am PT

    Im tired of investigations and political hoo hooos trying to make careers. Lets here from the developers. They are the important people

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:56 am PT

    The SEC looking into Stock-option grants back to 1997? Hmmm, sounds a bit suspicious. Chances are the recipients of those grants are probably long gone.

  • UntoldDreams

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:55 am PT

    You can go to jail for screwing with the SEC. This is worse than Hot Coffee but it's boring to kids.

  • Rumstocker

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:53 am PT

    Don't hate the player, hate the game.

  • Narroo

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:51 am PT

    I don't get it.

  • demollyon

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 10:49 am PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

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