spyderbite

Hehe.. that gave me a good chuckle. A Hostile Take Over requires more than just wealth. It requires that at least 51% of all the shareholders are willing to sell their shares. It also requires that a vulnerable company is in desperate need of an infusion of funds. Considering that SOE is backed by the world's largest electronics and entertainment company, I seriously doubt that SOE is any need of such an infusion of funds. ;)

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Kelenvor

Do you even understand how a hostile takeover happens?

Petgroup

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Originally Posted by RadarX
Go play another game and wake up. SOE's Community Team does more than ANY other company.
Flames now has 0 support from anyone. No TTH, no Zam (although I'm not sure how much there was), no SOE, no one.

Wolfe

Thats also what we were told by mythic after a E3. Then boom 1 month later they tell us they sold out to EA games lol. The amount does seem small thu even a pissy little game company like mythic went for 80 mil ;)

Ily

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The worst is over now and we can breathe again - I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain
away
There’s so much left to learn, and no one left to fight - I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

Flight

Hostile takeover was certainly the wrong wording, which I later tried to fix (time limit on edits, apparently) but I stand by the assertion that if this guy decides he wants to acquire SoE he will, in one way or another. I understand exactly what folks are saying, but I think theres more to take into account. Theres two aspects to this :


How do you think Sony feel about SoE's continued failure to make any inroads into the massive worldwide market, that has been highlighted by Blizzard ? Its not long since SoE had pretty much a monopoly on the market. They have totally failed to capitalise on that. SoE is nowhere near a blue eyed boy in Sonys eyes. If theres one thing the Japanese will not stand for its failure.



The value of Sony has risen over 70% over the last two years. Tell me how much you think the value of SoE has risen in the same space of time ?





They have more money than this guy ? You're wrong. Sonys market capitalisation is somewhere around $50billion, this guy is worth $65billion. You're assertion that its chump change only puts it into perspective.

Historically he worked in petrochemicals. He built the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery, along with power infrastructures and ports. Nearly a decade ago he and his father decided to bring India into the digital era. He and his brother (plus his late father) are THE architects of the digital age in India. He built a 60,000 kilometres fibre optic backbone across his country and established one of the biggest telecommunications companies in India.


His company is pushing at the front of deep water oil and gas exploration, and owns a petroleum retail network that has 5,800 outlets across India. He is also into medical, plant and industrial biotechnology.



The market in potential MMORPGs right across Asia dwarfs what we have so far seen. This man knows that and has decided he wants to be at the middle of it. Three weeks ago he met with senior staff from Sony, Intel and Microsoft.

Do you think he will be happy being a distributor ?

Caswydian

According to their website, Reliance ADA, Zapak's parent company, has a market cap of 22 billion, which is still very good, but still only about half of Sony's.

$300 million isn't chump change in the MMO industry yet, but it's also not a particularly high offer, considering that Club Penguin was sold to Disney for $350 million up front, plus options for up to another $350 million, and that is just a single game.

Still, assuming SOE isn't being sold, even a partnership between Zapak and SOE would be very exciting news. Coupled with the Live Gamers partnership, I think 2008 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for the MMO industry.

Flight

I didn't comment on ADAs value; I was referring to Mukesh Ambanis personal worth.


I'm not certain but I believe Reliance ADA is his brother company (ADA are his brother Anils intials). It certainly doesn't cover Mukeshs holdings or his worth. Perhaps you are confusing Reliance Infocomm with Reliance Industries ?


Their various holdings are a little confusing as quite a number start with 'Reliance' in the case of both of the brothers.


One thing is for sure, with much of their money being in fuel and petro chemicals, their wealth will only rise.

Wozamil

To be fair, they are selling Sony Financial, and they are considering selling parts of their animation and digital effects divisions.

The best part of this is EQ was actually mentioned recently on Joystiq, and better yet, someone here linked back to this thread debunking the claim.
Rumor: Indian gaming company to buy out Sony Online Entertainment for $300 million [update] - Joystiq

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visceral monkey

I certainly hope the rumor isn't true, but let's stop and think a moment. If it were true, Smed undoubtedly stands to gain/lose something from the transaction or announcement of said transaction. Perhaps a nice parachute package as he leaves the company and turns it over to other hands in India? In other words, he might have good reason to be not so truthful at the moment, his telling the truth or not wouldn't matter if he was taking a nice big check and leaving the industry.

But what do I know, right?