Take-Two CFO resigns

Fallout from shareholder takeover continues as Karl Winters leaves publisher; interim chief financial officer promoted from within company.

When a group of Take-Two investors last month announced its plans to install its own board of directors at the publisher's annual shareholders meeting, two executives were singled out by name. The group wanted to oust CEO Paul Eibeler, and it wanted to review the continued employment of CFO Karl Winters.

The investor group had its way at the shareholder's meeting, and Eibeler's departure from the company was announced that same day. Now Winters' departure has been confirmed, as Take-Two today announced his resignation, effective immediately. Winters will be replaced on an interim basis by the company's current senior vice president of finance, Lainie Goldstein. As it did with Eibeler, Take-Two said it is working with Winters "to ensure an orderly and effective transition."

36 Comments

  • rgjj

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 11:21 am PT

    dont worry people if take two was to die or crumble all the decent franchise's/products willmost definatly be bought or continued by a still strong company.

  • racerx737

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 10:24 am PT

    hey as long as it doesnt affect GTA I'm cool with it, sounds like they needed this.

  • tatu2004

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 9:35 am PT

    more problems again oh dear i feel sorry for take two...

  • ldonyo

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 9:07 am PT

    Hopefully these moves will result in sound business decisions being made by the executives running the day-to-day operations of the company. Had GTA been any less successful a franchise, Take-Two would have gone under a long time ago.

  • amaraklov

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 8:27 am PT

    "waht the hell??????+ F u shareholders, leave the companies alone!"

    It's people like you with comments like this who make me scared of the future of America !

  • Vorknykx

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 4:57 am PT

    I bet old Jack Thompson will take credit for this in some way because he is a share holder in Take-Two.

  • DoggySpew

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 4:06 am PT

    @anmnawshad

    These moves are neccesary to ensure Take-2 DOES survive. The only reason why Take-2 hasn't gone belly-up was the succes GTA brought. On a business level the failed miserabily.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 2:51 am PT

    Please don't die Take-2!

  • scumbag69

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 1:02 am PT

    "waht the hell??????+ F u shareholders, leave the companies alone!"

    But shareholders own the company, how would u like it if things you owned didn't do what you wanted?

  • mrklorox

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 12:34 am PT

    I see this as a good thing. Corrupt officials need to be ousted. This is a much better circumstance than letting EA buy T2.

    To those that fear for GTA... why would anybody want to restrict GTA: The highest selling video game franchise (three games in) ever? (i do not count gta 1 or 2) GTA is not going ANYWHERE.

  • Rhubarb9

    Posted Apr 10, 2007 12:04 am PT

    waht the hell??????+ F u shareholders, leave the companies alone!

  • zsc4

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 10:32 pm PT

    Is this good or bad news Well either way there was a lot of talk around Take-Two...so I guess this was bound to happen.

  • VegetaMaelstrom

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 7:50 pm PT

    What's the difference between a forced resignation and a firing? Answer: The golden parachute send-off. Don't feel too sorry for Eibeler. I'm sure he skimmed enough money away to live more than comfortably. Sorry, cashed in back-dated options is the new term for that.

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 6:46 pm PT

    Thank goodness most of the former GTA creators left Take Two interactive's Rockstar Games and formed their own company RealTime Worlds. They were smart for doing so seeing all this stuff happening to Take Two. I hope that RealTime Worlds comes out on top too. Kudos to them.

  • arc_salvo

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 6:30 pm PT

    Man, that's some really bad financial management T2's had there. This is shocking considering just how popular their games are, and how much they've sold.

    Really, just shows you how you can't get arrogant and careless about these things. No matter how much you make, you always have to watch the bottom line and make sure you're not spending too much.

  • Vulpis

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 6:25 pm PT

    So, I'm guessing that the ones who don't think this is news-worthy wouldn't care if the new CFO decided to cut the funding for GTA4, right? As has been said, that's part of what a CFO *does*...

  • Citan76

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 6:11 pm PT

    If I were them I would team up together and fight crime just because of the irony.

  • Somini

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 6:07 pm PT

    I'm beginning to get really bored by all these T2 "news"...

  • Pete5506

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 5:50 pm PT

    wowo they need to fix these things

  • iX-gamer

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 5:23 pm PT

    So in the meantime, eh?? Lainie Goldstein, doesn't seem quite the character if you ask me. But, it's just for a while....

  • Hedfix

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 5:07 pm PT

    ""I wonder if this has anything to do with Jackass Thompson?"
    LOL of course it does, it's allways his fault. He created cancer, snow and racism not to mention that time he invented boredom just out of spite for gamers."

    OMG!!!!1111

    THOMPSON IS GOD!!!111

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 4:56 pm PT

    I hope that this doesn't become a trend and Take Two falls apart because of this.

  • can0of0cheese

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 4:32 pm PT

    "I wonder if this has anything to do with Jackass Thompson?"
    LOL of course it does, it's allways his fault. He created cancer, snow and racism not to mention that time he invented boredom just out of spite for gamers.

  • FilthyYamBag

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 4:14 pm PT

    also the other reason he resigned is that the company continues to lose money, translation: they spend more than they earn, so even from sales of gta and other things like manhunt and midnight club, they have spent more on salaries game production and marketing, so naturally he quit before he got the axe

  • FilthyYamBag

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 4:11 pm PT

    yep hedfix he's the head accountant, he's oneof the top officers that determines how much should be spent and manages what is spent. I know because i'm studying to be one. just not a lousy one, like this guy

  • Hedfix

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 3:45 pm PT

    Chief Financial Officer? Like the top accountant?

    *Shrugs*

  • wizard_924

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 3:41 pm PT

    Um...
    What's a CFO? And does it mess with the awesomeness of the up-and-coming GTA IV or Manhunt 2?

  • Dan777UK

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 3:39 pm PT

    This is pretty much not even video game news... those guys don't make games, or have any real effect on them at all.

  • Hedfix

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 3:12 pm PT

    Does anyone really care aslong as GTAIV is unaffected?

    Oh and: GRAND LEFT CFO!

  • Lord_Mantis

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:43 pm PT

    I wonder if this has anything to do with Jackass Thompson?

  • decoy1978

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    Is there a back story we're missing here on Take-Two? I'd like to know why the guy got the axe.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    Take-Two woes

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:34 pm PT

    this is getting too serious.

  • biowulf

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:33 pm PT

    heh

  • fugiot

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:27 pm PT

    freaking stockholders...

  • Danthegamingman

    Posted Apr 9, 2007 2:11 pm PT

    the good ole boot to the rear out the door ftw.

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