Sega Shares Rally on Report of Suitors
Fri Feb 28, 8:28 AM ET
By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
TOKYO - Sega Corp. shares surged Friday on a newspaper report that Microsoft Corp. and Electronic Arts are exploring ways to buy all or parts of the Japanese video game maker.
But Sega, famous for Sonic the Hedgehog, denied The Asian Wall Street Journal report Friday as speculation, and said Sega's plan to integrate its operations with Sammy Corp., a major Japanese pinball-machine company, were proceeding.
"The discussions are progressing smoothly," company spokesman Masato Suzuki said.
A committee to work out details of the deal is being set up in March, and a reorganization plan, which may set up a holding company instead of opting for a merger, could be announced as early as that month, Suzuki said.
He said the company has not been approached by U.S. software giant Microsoft, which makes the Xbox (news - web sites) game console, or Electronic Arts, a Redwood City, Calif.-based video game designer.
But Sega shares shot up in Tokyo trading on the mere prospects, gaining 16 percent to close Friday at 740 yen ($6.30).
Citing people familiar with the situation, the newspaper said Microsoft has asked at least one U.S. investment bank to explore how it could buy all or part of Tokyo-based Sega. And Electronic Arts has approached Japanese game makers about launching a joint bid for Sega, the newspaper said.
Once a major pioneer in the industry, Sega has watched its brand lose its luster in recent years as gaming became dominated by Japanese rival Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s PlayStation 2 (news - web sites).
But Sega abandoned its Dreamcast (news - web sites) console in 2001 and switched to making games for machines from Sony, Nintendo (news - web sites) and Microsoft.
Sega acknowledged the expected plan may involve job cuts. But Suzuki denied the Journal report, which cited unidentified people familiar with the plan and said a 20 percent reduction of the company's work force of 450 in the United States could be announced as early as Friday.
Suzuki said only about 120 people work at Sega of America.
Sammy is a major maker of pachinko slot machines, a popular vertical pinball game set up in parlors across Japan. It is trying to develop new businesses such as commercial video game machines and video game software.
Sega posted a 17.8 billion yen ($151 million) loss last fiscal year, its fifth straight annual loss, but expects to return to profitability in the fiscal year ending in March. Sammy posted a 23.9 billion yen ($203 million) profit for the last fiscal year.
Bon comme d'hab ce genre d'info vaut ce qu'elle vaut, mais ça vient confirmer ce que je vous dis depuis pas mal de temps : tout le monde essaye de mettre la main sur Sega...
Perso je croise les doigts pour qu'ils restent indépendants
