EA flexes billions to buy Codemasters, outbids Take-Two's buyout offer

EA could be the new home of Codemasters as the publisher ousted Take-Two's huge $900 million acquisition offer.

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A month ago, Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive offered to pay $973 million in stock and cash to buy Codemasters, the developer behind racing games like Project Cars, DiRT, annual F1 games, and GRID. Now EA has stepped in and outbid Take-Two's sizable buyout offer.

Sources tell Sky News that EA has made a buyout offer and is currently working with brokers at UBS to layout specific financing terms. The deal hasn't been made public, and EA's SEC filings haven't been updated with any information on the potential buyout.

EA is throwing its billion-dollar pocketbook around to acquire what could be a valuable asset for its games catalog. The company makes more money than Take-Two (in 2019, EA earned $5.5 billion compared to TTWO's $3.08 billion), but EA already has established racing franchises like Need for Speed.

Take-Two stands to gain more from the Codemasters buyout since it doesn't have a big racing IP catalog.

No details have been made official just yet, but we could see EA undercut one of its main competitors to grab a powerful and profitable racing developer.

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