It’s not uncommon for tech companies to turn down buy-out offers made by other tech companies, but when that offer is $2.25 billion, it sort of makes you wonder: “what on earth are you thinking?”
This surely must be what’s on the minds of tech analysts in wake of the revelation by the New York Times regarding Rovio’s snub of Zynga’s offer to buy the Angry Birds brand and underlying assets—i.e. the whole of Rovio. Zynga is mum on the issue and Rovio isn’t talking either, but sources close to the situation confirm that the approach was made and subsequently turned down.Now, perspective is a hell of a thing, so it sort of helps to understand why Rovio might have turned down the offer (even if it was a ridiculous sum of money). For starters, the Angry Birds brand itself has grown tremendously; so much so that there are now retail stores devoted to the merchandise spawned from its popularity. On top of that, Rovio has been dominating mobile gaming for quite some time and now has the reach to develop products and dominate markets at will.
While those credentials may not be considered enough to snub a $2.25 billion offer, the people at Rovio obviously felt that their long term prospects were worth a lot more. We perhaps won’t know for sure until Zynga’s IPO becomes a reality and we get to examine its core business numbers. Then we might see if Zynga was punching above its weight by offering so much money.
Is the Angry Birds brand worth $2.25 billion? Rovio can’t decide so perhaps you could chime in using the comments below.