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[Diablo]

Video game retailer GameStop Corp. said today it agreed to acquire rival Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. for US$1.44 billion in cash and stock.

The deal will make GameStop a leading global video game retailer with annual revenue of about $3.8 billion, with more than 3,200 stores.

Directors Approve

The boards of directors of each company have unanimously approved the transaction. The deal is subject to approval by their shareholders and antitrust Latest News about antitrust clearance.

Electronics Boutique shareholders will receive $38.15 in cash, plus 0.78795 shares of GameStop Class A common stock for each share of Electronics Boutique. Based on the closing price of GameStop's Class A common stock of $21.61 on April 15, the stock component of the per share merger consideration is $17.03.

The total acquisition price of $55.18 represents a 34.2 percent premium to the Friday closing price of Electronics Boutique's stock.

James Kim, and his affiliates, owners of approximately 47 percent of Electronics Boutique's voting shares, and Leonard Riggio, and his affiliates, owners of approximately 16 percent of GameStop's voting power, have each agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction.

Multiple Properties

Based in Grapevine, Texas, GameStop operates 1,826 retail stores throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Ireland, primarily under the GameStop brand. In addition, it owns the GameStop.com Web site Get a Free E-Commerce Start-up Kit from Verisign and Game Informer magazine, a video and computer game Latest News about computer games publication.

Electronics Boutique operated 2,000 stores in the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Puerto Rico and Sweden -- primarily under the names EB Games and Electronics Boutique.

GameStop said it intends to fund the cash portion of the transaction through the issuance of $950 million in senior bonds and excess cash.

With this recent acquistion, I'm getting the whole FuncoLand/Babbage's feeling all over again, whereas I was stuck with only one retailer with which to search for an elusive game title.

While I rarely patronized EB due to poor service etiquette (several previous experiences at local stores led to arguments with the "help"), the fact that I typically found their prices to be higher than at GameStop, and that their selection seemed to be inferior in most situations, it was always nice to know that if GameStop didn't have a title, I still may be able to find it at EB.

Oh well...at least it was GameStop buying EB, and not the other way around.

[NT]

Regardless of which one was better, it's a shame to see less competition in the market.   :roll:

[Diablo]

Very true indeed.  First Babbage's and FuncoLand are bought out by Software Etc, which soon thereafter became GameStop, and now EB is being similarly acquired.  What other nationwide retailers are left which are dedicated solely to video games?

I wonder when the term "monopoly" enters the situation... :?:

[NT]

Very true indeed.  First Babbage's and FuncoLand are bought out by Software Etc, which soon thereafter became GameStop, and now EB is being similarly acquired.  What other nationwide retailers are left which are dedicated solely to video games?

I wonder when the term "monopoly" enters the situation... :?:

Before you know it EA will buy out Gamestop and become the new communist Russia of video game retailers.   :x

[zarcon6]

This hole thing sucks here where I live. It was one store that usually had what I wanted. the independent game store round over here is sooooo over priced (trying to sell a toaster style nintendo for $150), and they already closed 2 of the EBs I used to go to. Now I have to find a new place to shop for used games.

[NT]

This hole thing sucks here where I live. It was one store that usually had what I wanted. the independent game store round over here is sooooo over priced (trying to sell a toaster style nintendo for $150), and they already closed 2 of the EBs I used to go to. Now I have to find a new place to shop for used games.

Around here we have Buy-Rite B&M stores which I think are local to the area.  They're disgustingly overpriced.  Now there's really nothing stopping Gamestop from raising their prices to nearly what the expensive local stores charge.