Take-Two, which owns Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto, is not interested in selling. The company’s top boss, Strauss Zelnick, appeared on CNBC recently where he was asked if Take-Two’s partnership with Netflix for the next GTA 6 trailer might be the first step toward a buyout. It is not, he said, adding that Take-Two is not interested in selling to anyone at the moment.
Zelnick pointed out that Take-Two has already “made a bunch of deals” with Netflix for distributing some of its games via Netflix Games. While some GTA games have been pulled from the Netflix Games library, subscribers can still play Red Dead Redemption via Netflix. Zelnick said Netflix, as a company, is all about increasing subscribers and making more money by releasing entertaining titles, and this could include more output in games. “So, it stands to reason that they would make their way into the business of games,” Zelnick said.
Asked if Netflix might move things along faster by making a big purchase of a gaming company, Zelnick said that’s a question for Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. Zelnick said Netflix, historically, has not done many “big acquisitions,” instead preferring to grow organically.
Netflix famously announced a buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery, but it fell apart after Paramount swooped in with more cash and better terms. In terms of gaming buyouts, Netflix has done this with acquisitions of companies like Night School Studio, Next Games, Boss Fight, and Spry Fox, to name a few.
Netflix’s efforts in the gaming space have not been totally smooth, of course, as previous management invested in AAA games and hired big names, before the company changed course and shifted focus to smaller-scale games.
As for Take-Two possibly selling itself, Zelnick said that’s unlikely right now.
“I think we’re very proud of the way we’ve built this company independently and we’re now the largest pure-play that’s public in the space worldwide,” he said. “We expect to have over $8 billion in revenue this year. We generate profits year in, year out. I don’t mean to imply that’s easy or even predictable. We have to get up every morning and do it. But I think if anyone deserves to be an independent company, we do.”
Take-Two currently trades at more than $250/share with a market cap north of $47 billion. The company remains public after some of its peers went private, with Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard and Saudi Arabia’s PIF recently closing its deal for Electronic Arts.
Take-Two is poised for a big year, with GTA 6 launching in November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar will finally show more of the game on August 27 via Netflix.
