Take-Two stockholders approve acquisition of Zynga, deal expected to close next week

Take-Two has announced that its stockholders have finally approved the proposed $12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga. As a result, the mobile publisher’s shares will stop trading on the stock market today.

Zynga will no longer be listed on the NASDAQ exchange, according to Take-Two’s press release. The acquisition is expected to close on May 23, before the market opens.

Stockholders approved the deal yesterday during a special meeting, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said. “We believe that our combination with Zynga will be transformative for our company as we create a powerful and diverse portfolio of industry-leading titles, while also becoming a leader in mobile games,” he noted.

According to Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau, this merger will create an “unparalleled portfolio that reaches massive audiences across key platforms, genres, and territories.” The two companies plan to combine their AAA development capabilities with free-to-play expertise to offer new experiences to players.

Take-Two announced the Zynga acquisition in January. It later sold senior notes worth $2.7 billion to partly fund the transaction, which was the biggest in the history of the games industry before Microsoft revealed its intent to snap up Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.