Debunked Rumor Of Sony Acquiring GTA Parent Company Causes Stock Price Jump

Take-Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Red Dead Redemption 2 developer Rockstar and 2K Games, has had a dramatic increase to its stock price today. The increase stemmed from an apparently erroneous report that Sony was discussing the possibility of acquiring Take-Two Interactive.

First, Market Watch reported that Wedbush Securities analyst Joel Kulina said Sony is currently in "advanced board level discussions to acquire Take-Two Interactive in a mostly cash deal." GameSpot contacted Kulina for clarification, and he expressed frustration with what he says was a misquote, leading him to be "bombarded with calls" about the comment.

"There is nothing behind this story that I've seen," Kulina told GameSpot. "No one has found a source. Market chatter refers to simply what we hear on trading desks--happens daily, just more surprised this has gone viral like it has."

Regardless, the initial comment was enough to kick off a flurry of trading, leading to a stock increase of nearly 7% as of the time of writing. Sony stock is also up slightly, at less than 1%. Kulina said there isn't more to the story than the chatter, but the Take-Two stock jump is likely due to a favorable market position and the teaser released yesterday by Gearbox, which has been widely interpreted as a reference to Borderlands 3. Take-Two's stock price has been on the decline recently, especially in the last month, so it was poised for a rebound.

Most recently, Sony and Rockstar partnered for timed exclusive Red Dead 2 content on PlayStation 4 and a special PS4 Pro console bundle. But Take-Two certainly isn't wedded to one console, having developed games for multiple platforms over the years--some of which never appeared on a Sony console, like Rockstar Presents Table Tennis. Other properties under the Take-Two portfolio include the NBA 2K games, Civilization, and XCOM.

GameSpot reached out to Take-Two Interactive, which declined to comment.