Eidos shareholders approve Square Enix buyout

Tomb Raider publisher easily secures majority of stock-owner approval for Japanese company's takeover bid.

Square Enix has cleared one of the final remaining hurdles in its buyout attempt of beleaguered UK-based publisher Eidos. The Tomb Raider maker announced today that its shareholders have voted in favor of the takeover. Although not a unanimous decision, shareholder yea-sayers achieved a comfortable majority, with 85.03 percent of voters approving the deal.

Square Enix's offer of £84.3 million ($120 million) was unanimously recommended to Eidos shareholders by the company's board of directors when the deal was first announced in mid-February. Broken down by share price, the offer amounts to 32 pence ($0.46) per share, which is more than triple the value of what Eidos' stock had been trading at before Square Enix's move.

With shareholder approval now secured, the next step in the process will occur on April 21, when all listing and dealing of Eidos shares will be suspended. The following day, Eidos will officially become a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix.

122 Comments

  • metalgear31907

    Posted May 18, 2009 3:26 pm PT

    i hope one of the conditions of the merger was to kill of the tomb raider series. i mean come on that game was fun when it first came out but they slowly killed it with each lack luster sequel.

  • grimm201

    Posted May 13, 2009 10:10 am PT

    Eh, not really. Most you can say about Square Enix is that they dole out pretty graphics. And thier games tend to focus more on gameplay than storylines, which is good for Eidos, I suppose. Seriously, I don't need to play more JRPG's that star an androgenous male teenager protaganist, a serious princess like female lead, a 'badass', a 'funny' male character, a spunky girl who will probably remain friends with, and a serious, mature older female. And watch them all avert some sort of world wide calamity. Sorry, I might have just given away the plots for FF VII through XII, and I apologize for that. Maybe some Star Oceans and Dragon Quests too. At any rate, they mess with Eidos Montreal and ruin Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3 I'm gonna be pissed. And if they dole out a Tomb Raider where she's seventeen and sporting a school girl uniform fighting godzilla...actually that sounds kinda awesome. Do that, Square Soft! Make me care about games you make that don't have the words 'valkyrie' in them!!!

    ...That's alot of two cents.

  • jemoedr

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 10:53 am PT

    Dude, then don't comment on rpg sites. Your comment is as crapy as Slipknot (your avy), you'd better start listening to real metal dude .


    Square Enix is a great game company. They deliver high quality graphics and games. This buy is good for both company's as Eidos was formaly responsible for bringing the final fantasy games to pc (7&. You can expect great work from these guys, believe me.

  • Monochromatic-7

    Posted Apr 16, 2009 3:24 am PT

    my god...stupidish jrpgs...hate them

  • DarthspartanA15

    Posted Apr 15, 2009 3:06 pm PT

    Well all I care about is getting a new Deus Ex game.

  • drakan2112

    Posted Apr 10, 2009 6:42 am PT

    tomb raider was a good idea... but without the game to back the idea it's just an idea...if they could make a good tomb raider game that wasn't the same thing over and over again for like 3 hours i might have played more than one...i mean come on they throw maybe one or two good puzzles in there every 30 minutes or so but in between it felt too boring to even continue...i played it for the puzzles really...i would play just to get challenged by the puzzles but soon even that wore off...give me a tomb raider game the has some variety and ill play it.

  • MontyPython4-r

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 12:40 am PT

    Where Square Enix got the money you say?
    From the pockets!!!

  • bustershot

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 5:46 am PT

    tomb raider is... getting old... i mean come on... sure the woman is sexy but where's the gameplay... the male has dominated the female in this genre (Uncharted anyone?) so i really do hope they kill off Lara with one final game that hopefully will be a really good one...

  • danielzajko

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 5:07 am PT

    its all about the money people but where did squarenix got the money? Hmmm....

  • Seth_GRAVIJAH

    Posted Mar 31, 2009 4:57 am PT

    What darkdemonlord69 said.

  • darkdemonlord69

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 11:21 pm PT

    Awwwww, poor baby. Fiskefyren must be one of the one's. Who can't figure out the puzzle's. Just remember Fiskefyren, You said here come the haters? But you were the one that brought the hate. And remember this also, your thoughts matter zero to everyone else here. When they are standing int he store looking at the game trying to decide if they want it or not.

  • zaibutzu

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 6:04 pm PT

    Lara croft and Yuna in a lesbian relationship in the next final fantasy...That's why they bought eidos

  • fiskefyren

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 12:53 pm PT

    lets all just hold hands and hope that Enix sees what Tomb Rider is and deside to kill the serie forever and ever, making this world a better place to live in

    ps. here come the haters!!! face facts people! that game wasn't even good when it came out! and it sure as hell isn't now either!

  • daddyslttlpiggy

    Posted Mar 30, 2009 10:24 am PT

    now maybe that company will put out some decent games if square keeps it alive.

  • Blaze_Hrimfaxi

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 8:44 pm PT

    Freedom Fighters 2 please?

  • kSLYSTEVE

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 7:09 pm PT

    choices => (Refer to the txt below) my bad, (P.S. whoever is this website designer, please, PLEASE are the option of editing your comments, sometimes the wrong txt comes out) just saying tho!!!!!

  • kSLYSTEVE

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 7:05 pm PT

    what good will come out this this u ask?............. Maybe will see a FF smash or Fantasy Kingdom Smash comes out of it, the choice are endless, just tell those producers to hit me up, i got lots of ideas, lol @(*_*)@

  • wahyudil

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 6:28 am PT

    after this we can expect to see Tomb Rider RPG or Deus Ex Fantasy ...

  • beny_pimpster

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 2:45 am PT

    lol square-enix got the money why the hell these lazy fools did not release front mission 5? haha no wonder games are expensive to buy lol developers cost a lot

  • leviathanwing

    Posted Mar 29, 2009 12:19 am PT

    i see people not seeing this coming, but SE did try to buy tecmo a while back... something about wanting to get into the action and adventure genre, by buying the their way in.

  • zjohnsto

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 10:58 pm PT

    Year 2030: Square-Enix-Eidos-EA-Global has delayed the release of Final Fantasy XXIV to incorporate a Madden style, archeological platform minigame into the series. Shareholders were concerned the game 'spreads itself too thin' both financially and artistically , but gamers were sure that robbing a tomb with a football that has a magic rating of 255 will only return the series to its early FFX days.

  • Deferet

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 10:14 am PT

    I'll bet they're gonna do the same thing they did when Squaresoft and Enix merged. They kept the company's separate teams to make the games they always had and moved around funding as it was needed. This, I think, would be the best solution for eidos as well

  • toyota22

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 9:34 am PT

    look nice, but i only love Hitman

  • BlueFlameBat

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 9:27 am PT

    I don't suppose this means Tomb Raider games with experience points, complex storylines, multiple playable characters, and major cinematic cut-scenes?

  • SquareEnixFan13

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 9:00 am PT

    Keep Eidos the heck away from FFXIII.

  • FoppyOmega

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:50 am PT

    TiEIY
    -Such sounds good, however, let us still hope that Square does not totally wipe out a great gaming company in the petty spirit of competition.


    ...Great gaming company? Since when?

  • poorisaac

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:27 am PT

    This is great news!! Maybe SE will make the right choice as new owners and leave the Tomb Raider franchise in the woods for the wolves. Also, Legacy of Kain sequel would be fantastic

  • poorisaac

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:26 am PT

    As for the Legacy of Kain comment? I am behind you 100% Xenoxion. 120%

  • poorisaac

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:25 am PT

    This is great news!!! Maybe SE will make the right choice as a new parent and abandon the Tomb Raider franchise in the woods. Lame.

  • fps_d0minat0r

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 7:06 am PT

    its nice to see gaming organisations buying each other out rather then depending on the government or closing down.

    microsoft however, for the cheapasses they are, cant afford to keep the flight sim studio alive despite continuously raking in XBL fees.

  • djsparda

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 5:54 am PT

    this is the best game what i played about tomb raider cogratulations crystal dybanics, eidos & warner bros

  • Xenoxion

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 4:37 am PT

    I really hope so.

  • Xenoxion

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 4:37 am PT

    Maybe a new Legacy of Kain?

  • darkouer

    Posted Mar 28, 2009 12:05 am PT

    Tomb Raider RPG anyone?

  • TiElY

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 11:50 pm PT

    This take over does not entail a 'square Enix Rpg' change in the Tomb Raider mechanics, rather, Edidos and Square Enix will now have access to each others experiences and resources. Only Square Enix will be entirely in charge. Such sounds good, however, let us still hope that Square does not totally wipe out a great gaming company in the petty spirit of competition.

  • soulless4now

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 11:40 pm PT

    I'd love to see a Tomb Raider game with rpg elements to it. It would be pretty interesting.

  • dethtrain

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 10:51 pm PT

    Lara Croft can summon ifrit? WTF?

  • RasutoSSAikou

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 10:39 pm PT

    That's.....strange. I was not expecting this.

  • Dominus-Nox

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 10:33 pm PT

    Maybe theyll release a good tomb raider game for a change.

  • YEPEE00

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 10:16 pm PT

    Boo!

  • da_illest101

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 9:09 pm PT

    the birth of square endos

  • joelgargan

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 8:29 pm PT

    I seriously need a new Hitman

  • fester420

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 8:09 pm PT

    And we all win

  • rideru

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 6:44 pm PT

    maybe they'll put their brains together and finally make some good ps3 rpgs.

  • K_M82

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 6:40 pm PT

    at last, i can see my dream game: final fantasy raider!

  • GodOfSyn

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 6:38 pm PT

    Nice to see one of my favorite companies getting larger, hope the quality of developement remains the same, which I'm sure it will =]

  • kardon16

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 6:20 pm PT

    hitman please

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 5:55 pm PT

    Maybe Square will finally give us a next-gen Legacy of Kain. That would be nice. I thought Eidos's last Tomb Raider game was solid with outstanding graphics, but I don't think it sold quite enough. I didn't see this coming from Square.

  • TWiSTEDmerc

    Posted Mar 27, 2009 5:21 pm PT

    I'm flundered by Square's decision, Eidos hasn't had many successful games coming out, they are mostly passing right by us and their franchises are losing ground. The only good, well known game they had was Age of Conan, but still $120 million for lara, bunch of junk, and Age of Conan? I don't think so.

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