Apple is rumoured to be mulling a takeover bid for games maker Electronic Arts (EA) just hours after the tech giant was said to be considering buying Twitter for USD700m. The news coincides with EA posting a full-year loss of USD1bn, more than twice the deficit it reported last year. The rumour seems to be inspired by news that Apple is now the second richest tech company in the world after Cisco. As of March 28, Apple had an estimated USD29bn in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Like the Twitter rumour, the claim that Apple is planning to buy EA is being met with scepticism. Piers Harding-Rolls, of UK media analysts Screen Digest, describes the claim as ?very speculative?.
?It would surprise us if Apple was looking to acquire a content company like EA,? he says. ?It’s not really their strategy. Their strategy is about selling their devices and making a profit on those devices. They [Apple] enable the content distribution but they’re not really interested in producing the content themselves.?
Financial blog TheStreet seems to have started the rumour, after quoting analyst Guy Adami from the CNBC show Fast Money. Adami reportedly said there is ?chatter? about Apple planning an EA takeover.
StrategyEye's related categories: PCs, Games Developers, Mobile Phone Devices, Games Publishers
StrategyEye's related companies: Electronic Arts, Apple, Inc.
