EB Games and Gamestop to merge?

[Matt Young 0]

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2005/4/18-47

 

This morning, GameStop and Electronics Boutique announced that they are in the process of merging. Under the agreement, the two large videogame retailers will become GameStop Corp. Read on for the official announcement.

GameStop Corp. and Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger. The combined company, to be named GameStop Corp., will be a leading global video game retailer with annual revenues of approximately $3.8 billion, with over 3,200 stores located in all 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as nearly 600 international stores located throughout Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (Electronics Boutique) shareholders will receive $38.15 in cash, plus the equivalent of 0.78795 shares of GameStop Corp. (GameStop) Class A common stock for each share of Electronics Boutique. Based on the closing price of GameStop's Class A common stock of $21.61 on Friday, April 15, 2005, the stock component of the per share merger consideration is $17.03. The total merger consideration per share of $55.18 represents a 34.2% premium to the closing price of Electronics Boutique's stock as of Friday, April 15, 2005. The total transaction value is approximately $1.44 billion with consideration consisting of approximately 70% cash and 30% common stock. GameStop intends to fund the cash portion of the transaction through the issuance of $950 million in senior bonds and excess cash.

 

R. Richard Fontaine, GameStop's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "This is an exciting transaction for everyone involved - our customers, our shareholders, and our two companies. This merger, which is a very positive step for GameStop, will enable us to enter new international markets and allow us to compete more effectively in the highly competitive U.S. video game industry. We are merging these two companies from a position of strength. Each organization is performing very well now, and we will be able to do more together by extending geographic reach, improving customer service, and continuing our aggressive store growth plans. Electronics Boutique is an impressive organization with a strong management team and we look forward to sharing best practices across both of our companies. In addition, the combined company will retain a strong capital structure, which will allow us to continue to invest in our business going forward."

 

Jeffrey Griffiths, Electronics Boutique's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Our focus at Electronics Boutique has been to be a leading global retailer of video games and by combining our company with GameStop, we are taking further strides towards reaching that goal. Moreover, this transaction makes a tremendous amount of sense from an operational, cultural, and synergistic perspective. We will now be in an even better position to broaden our reach and generate further efficiencies for our business and our customers. We are enormously proud of what Electronics Boutique has accomplished over the past 28 years, are excited about our future, and look forward to a smooth integration with the GameStop team."

 

Following completion of the merger, R. Richard Fontaine, GameStop's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Daniel A. DeMatteo, GameStop's Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, will each serve in the same capacity for the combined company. Other key positions are under discussion and will be announced as the integration process moves forward.

 

This transaction is expected to be significantly accretive to GameStop's fully diluted earnings per share in the second half of fiscal year 2005, and in fiscal years 2006 and beyond. The combined company expects to realize meaningful pre-tax synergies beginning in fiscal year 2006.

 

The boards of directors of each of GameStop and Electronics Boutique have unanimously approved the transaction.

 

-- Jim Cordeira

----------------------------

 

Something about this doesn't seem right to me, but if it's true, hopefully EB and its open, sticker-covered "new" games will be replaced by Gamestop.

[Scroby 0]

So how in fact will the merge make either company better?

[AndrewTS 0]

So how in fact will the merge make either company better?

It won't, obviously.

 

Too bad. I liked EB more than Gamestop.

[claydude14 0]

So what does this mean for all those malls that have an EB and a Gamestop? TWO Gamestops? EB is a sentimental favorite because it's been around forever, but once Gamestop moved into the mall they really outdid EB at everything. The EB employees became lying assholes, telling us things like "the (Gamecube) broadband adapter is out of production" a few months after PSO came out, and then I walk down to Gamestop and buy one there. Of course I went back to EB and were sure to point out to them that I just got one down the wing. But yea really there's no need for two Gamestops, at least in the smaller average sized malls, and I'm sure I'm not the only mall with an EB and a Gamestop. I don't see the EB employees mixing kindly with the Gamestop ones, as they have feuded since Gamestop moved in (don't remember the whole story but mall security got invovled once because the stores kept harassing each other). While certainly this merger means Gamestops replacing EBs, how many EBs can really be replaced without oversaturating the market with Gamestops? Someone at another forum I regular did a search and found 50 EBs and 50 Gamestops within 25 miles of him. If this merger meant 100 Gamestops within a 25 mile radius that just wouldn't make sense.

[Black Lushus 0]

Shit, I thought they were the same place anyway...Babbages, Software Etc., Game Stop and EB all rolled into one...

[Matt Young 0]

Gamestop=Starbucks (or Tim Horton's, if you're of the Canadian persuasion. I swear that shit's on every corner up there.)

[Black Lushus 0]

I agree, I think there are at least 8 or 9 Gamestops here...too bad our local shop Gamers (which has 3 locations), blows those fuckers away...

[Anya 0]

Both of them are obnoxious. They treat me like a little kid or something, like I know nothing about games and need to be hassled.

[Black Lushus 0]

the thing that irked me the most with Gamers is when I traded in my PS2...the cord on the controller was really twisted up and pretty shabby looking...it worked just fine but the manager said they couldn't sell it (the controller, they were okay with the PS2)...the funny thing is, those same assholes sold me that same controller 2 years ago...

[AndrewTS 0]

*doesn't get why people take personal anecdotes as indicators of how the rest of the stores nationwide are*

 

I've personally preferred EB all the way. I know the employees at my local EB well, they've had better prices on the used current-gen stuff (Gamestop is a hell of a lot more from my experiences).

 

Gamestop does a lot of little things that piss me off. Their obnoxious in-store ads ("your used games are *even better* than cash at gamestop!"--my ass), their support of Game Informer, higher prices on everything from used hardware to newer software, those damn shitty thin CD holder cases for PS1 stuff, their tendency to throw away boxes/instructions for used cartridge games when they actually get them in, the gignormous ripoff that is Tradestop, terrible customer service, their bullshit 7-day return policy on used stuff, etc, etc.

 

Fuck Gamestop.

 

"hopefully EB and its open, sticker-covered 'new' games will be replaced by Gamestop."

 

Every single Gamestop I've ever been to--and that includes throughout Pennsylvania and New York--has done that too. So I don't know what you're talking about.

 

Considering the Gamestops I have around my area are few and far between, I hope Gamecrazy finally gets around to expanding into PA a bit more.

[Anakin Flair 0]

Shit, I thought they were the same place anyway...Babbages, Software Etc., Game Stop and EB all rolled into one...

I thought that Gamestop merged with Babbages.

 

Personally, I prefer EB Games. I always seem to get a better price there. At the same time I do like Gamestop, as I know all of the employees at the one that's right near my house.

[razazteca 0]

Gamestop=Starbucks (or Tim Horton's, if you're of the Canadian persuasion. I swear that shit's on every corner up there.)

Why are they always located so close to each other? It seems that they always orbit the mall, best buy, or a Walmart. Its bad enough that there are 2 in the mall but must there be one located at the parking lot, one across the street and one a block away?

 

The issue about the boxes and the instructions is not a big deal to me since I am not a hardcore collector but I can see why it can be annoying. Hell I throw away the box majority of the time.

 

Is terrible customer service mean having the people ask you if you need help every 5 seconds and the consistent shrill for the repeat buyer program......for $$$$ you get so save 10% on your next purchase.

 

The one good thing I notice about Gamestop is that it had some hard to find games for the PS1. I found Zoop for $3 in the slim case, Street Fighter Collection 2 for $30 in orginal case, and Castlevania SOTN for $20. But I guess it had something to do since it was a new store.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I hate both places.

 

EB tried so hard to get me to buy ESPN football rather than Madden back in '03 that I was ready to knock the bitch out.

 

I bought a used PS1 Diablo at GameStop, played it for an evening, realized how much it sucks and went to sell it back (not even for a full refund mind you) and the kid said they couldn't buy it because it was too scratched up...

[AndrewTS 0]

Shit, I thought they were the same place anyway...Babbages, Software Etc., Game Stop and EB all rolled into one...

I thought that Gamestop merged with Babbages.

Gamestop = former Software Etc., Funcoland, Babbages.

 

Is terrible customer service mean having the people ask you if you need help every 5 seconds and the consistent shrill for the repeat buyer program......for $$$$ you get so save 10% on your next purchase.

 

That's part of it. My EB usually will mention it to somebody if they haven't seen that person in the store before, but don't push it on anyone. The EB employees I know are really cool in general, though. Their regional manager or whoever he is (guy shows up every month or so and takes over) is a real assclown though, plugging every freakin' thing he can to anyone within shouting distance.

 

The Gamestops I've visited seem to constantly plug it to anyone who walks in the door.

 

Plus, I've ended up with at least three times more defective merchandise at Gamestop than EB. This is rather fucked up since my nearest Gamestops are 25 miles away from me, and I have an EB a couple of miles away. I buy from EB all the time and very rarely have any problems. Because of that 7 days bullshit sometimes I have to make special trips to return Gamestop's shit that they clearly never tested. Ugh.

 

EB tried so hard to get me to buy ESPN football rather than Madden back in '03 that I was ready to knock the bitch out.

 

I'm sure that isn't the policy--just a rouge anti-EA guy.

 

I have both places' discount cards. Considering how much I'd buy I'd have to be insane not to.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Both of them are obnoxious. They treat me like a little kid or something, like I know nothing about games and need to be hassled.

I strongly agree with this, but I attribute this to the condescending nature of geeks who think they know what they're talking about because they work "in the industry" and read all the magazines and post nonstop on IGN, Gamefaqs, etc.

 

I have a Gamestop by my house I like going to, who aside from one or two dicks who act the aforementioned way and/or push WAY too hard to sell me something else at the counter when all I want is some used games and maybe a preorder, they're pretty cool. I don't really expect too much out of these stores, I guess.

[Paul Stanley 0]

At the Mall of America we had one EB, and two gamestops..

 

 

EB closed down, one Gamestop closed down, and just today the other one was shut down.

[Skywarp! 0]

Gamestop's policy of "trade 3 used games, and get a new one for $10!" makes my blood boil. If I give you 3 used games, there had better be no cash involved for getting that new one. Such bullshit.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

At the Mall of America we had one EB, and two gamestops..

 

 

EB closed down, one Gamestop closed down, and just today the other one was shut down.

Chances are one of those GameStops was a Funcoland, as that chain had branched out pretty far before being eaten by GameStop.

 

 

And for those wondering how they can afford it, GameStop is a division of Barnes & Noble. Which is a shame because the B&N here is beautiful and the GameStop just down the street is a suckhole.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Here's a question for those that work at video game stores -- how much money do you guys make on a used game/cd/dvd? I'm just curious...

[AndrewTS 0]

Both of them are obnoxious. They treat me like a little kid or something, like I know nothing about games and need to be hassled.

I strongly agree with this, but I attribute this to the condescending nature of geeks who think they know what they're talking about because they work "in the industry" and read all the magazines and post nonstop on IGN, Gamefaqs, etc.

Not all us geeks are condescending.

 

To be fair, these same employees probably experienced many an occasion of her coming up to the counter with, oh, say stuff like Street Fighter: The Movie, Time Killers, Game Boy MK3, and Shaq Fu to add to her collection of shitty fighting games.

 

And/or they may have heard her remark that FFVII is the greatest game ever. I could understand how they might form certain opinions about her based on things like that.

 

Hell, I've personally experienced something like that at one particular Gamestop, though, when I traded in Godai ("You *bought* this?!" etc). I refer to him as Sarcastic Balding Midget Guy. The ass finally shut up when I'd mentioned I was at EB, used the "buy 2, get one" deal they had going on, and there wasn't really anything I saw at the time I wanted, so I snatched that one up not knowing if it was good or bad. It traded in for a dollar, so I still was ahead.

 

There's an EB I've been to far away from my town that has another employee I try to avoid, Pissed-Off-Looking Black Guy. Condescending as all hell, won't actually make eye contact with you ever, mumbles constantly when you talk to him, so you have to ask him to repeat himself, and he looks more pissed when he does.

[razazteca 0]

Here's a question for those that work at video game stores -- how much money do you guys make on a used game/cd/dvd? I'm just curious...

From my personal experience I notice:

 

DVD are bought at $4 then marked up to $10

PS1 are bought at $1-$3 then marked up to $5-$10

GBA are bought at $4.50 then marked up to $10-$20

[Anya 0]

Last time I was at Gamestop this guy was trying to sell me on buying some Sims game.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I have a Gamestop and EB Games right across the street from each other. I'll see if I can exploit EB Games.

[tominator89 0]

Here's a question for those that work at video game stores -- how much money do you guys make on a used game/cd/dvd? I'm just curious...

I went to EB to trade in Command and Conquer: Generals for the PC. I got it as a gift and I don't play many computer games. Anyway, I just wanted to be rid of it for any price since it was a gift. They offered me $3 for it, which I ended up taking since I didn't care. I used the store credit towards a preowned copy of Bill & Ted on DVD for like $3 more, so I was happy. Anyway, as I'm waiting to be rung up for the difference, I see the other dude is already putting the stickers on it to put on the shelf. After I paid, I followed him to the preowned section and saw my $3 game with a nice $14.99 preowned price tag on it. Yeah, I got ripped off. Oh well. Bill & Ted > some game I never played.

[Scroby 0]

.....support your local Gamecrazy.....

[Guest Smues]

I hate Gamestop. Two experiences spring to my mind at the moment, one involving me, one involving my girlfriend.

 

I was at one of their stores looking for a game to get my sister for her birthday, and the manager who bugs the shit out of me came up and asked if I had pre-ordered Fable yet. I said I wasn't interested in Fable, at all, but he refused to take no for an answer. After five fucking minutes of telling me how great Fable would be, he finally gave up, and then hounded me to pre-order Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic 2. I won't go in that store anymore if I see him working.

 

A few years ago my girlfriend went into a different Gamestop to buy Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance for me for my birthday. Before my birthday she told me that she had bought my gift at the mall, but the guy who sold it to her really pissed her and her sister(who went with her when she bought it) off because he kept pressing her to buy a used copy when she said no she was buying new. So my birthday comes and she gives it to me, and tells me the full story of how when she bought it the guy kept saying she'd save money if she bought it used and she said no it's for a birthday, and the guy STILL kept trying to get her to buy used. After her sister started yelling at the guy he finally sold her the game and she leaves. She gives me the game on my birthday. I was running without sleep for 2 days (this was right after WM19 so I'd spent the night coming back from Seattle and then had class that morning so I couldn't sleep when I got home) so I didn't notice that it had the flimsy plastic and not the new sealed plastic. As I'm playing it my girlfriend flips through the manual and discovers writting all over one of the pages, and realizes he sold her a used copy of the game, after her saying 10,000 times she wanted to buy a new one. I'm about to pass out at this point but next thing I know she's driving me up to the store, screaming about how she's going to kill the guy all the way. Luckily he wasn't working, and she'd saved the receipt so the employee who was there swapped it for a new copy no problem.

 

I have plenty of other problems with them, but those are the two that come to mind. Well, those, and constantly being shilled the 10% off used game thing.

[AndrewTS 0]

.....support your local Gamecrazy.....

Have them get their asses in PA and I'll be glad to.

 

I have a Hollywood Video, but they've really got their heads up their asses. Those used copies of N64 sports games for $9.99 are going to sit in the used game section from now till doomsday. I also hate them often tossing out the instructions and original casing for those crappy printed-out cover/instructions. But whoopie, now they duplicate the front covers correctly.

 

Last time I was at Gamestop this guy was trying to sell me on buying some Sims game.

 

 

Hey--there's an idea for the Deception sequel...

 

Oh, and I have some RPG-playing friends that have gone on trips with me, and when we've hit Gamestops they'd tried to sell them on MKD, Doom 3, GTA, etc. The stereotypes go both ways.

 

General consensus: Gamestop sucks more, although I personally think they have more stuff overall. Only reason I go there.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I used to like Funco Land. I was pretty good about finding great NES and SNES games at garage sales and flea markets for next to nothing, and you used to get good trade ins.

 

Last time I went to Gamestop I think they offered me $5 for Mega Man X3, a game they sold for around $50. I litterly had about what they would sell for $350 in games and got a $40 trade in value...needless to say I made much more on Ebay.

 

I thought Funco, Gamestop, Babages, EB, and everyone else was all owned by the same place anyway. Unless you're trying to find cheap old games, they're just too much there. And I've never seen a used disk game there I wanted that wasn't scratched...they won't buy them scratched they say, but yet have plenty of them to sell.

[tominator89 0]

I went to FYE today to trade in sold old music CDs. A few of them were considered to be "scratched" which I didn't agree with it. Anyway, they recommended to me that I take them to EB because they buy scratched CDs. I was somewhat surprised they recommended that I do that.

[AndrewTS 0]

Some interesting posts at:

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4732

 

Oh, and how the fuck is this a "merger?" It's a fucking acquisition by Gamestop for all intents and purposes.

 

I think all I am doing is echoing the sentaments of a few others here. I was an Assistant Manager and even a Manager In Training at a SOftware Etc. Our customers came to our store cause we didnt hassle them and we were straight forward about our advice. Then we got a District Manager who only cared about the numbers. He had us pushing subscriptions to crappy magazines that people didnt want (the old Game Informer when it really was bad bad in the day) and pushing over priced used games.

 

The final straw was one day a mother came in looking for a copy of Pokemon Red or Blue flor her son's birthday in a month or so. Instead I told her how Pokemon Yellow was going to come out around that time. I advised her to pre order this title instead of purchasing the blue or red. The lady was happy to feel like she was getting a jump on something new. She thanked me and I got the preorder. My DM was watching me, he came at me and ripped me a new one because I "refused a sale". he told me I shouldve sold her the blue or red AND got her to preorder the Yellow. When I told him that Yellow was an identical game, except for being able to choose pikachu at the beginning, he replied, "Well she wont know that."

 

The problem is with the stores now is that they hire District Managers and other Managers that NEVER worked retail and dont know how to deal with people.

 

Well they fired me after almost 3 years of being there, but by the time I left I didnt like what the place was becoming anyway. Its a shame really.

 

Now they will be bigger and even more about the bottom dollar.

 

I wonder what will become of all the stores they have. Near a mall of mine I have 2 GameStops AND 2 EBs within quarter mile of each other. One Gamestop and one EB in the Mall and the other Gamestop and EB in the strip mall RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. Not to mention the Media Play, Circuit City, Meijer AND Target across the street from the mall.

 

And by the way, the stores in the malls dont match the prices of Meijer, Target, Media Play or anything because we were always told, "They are not mall stores and not our competition."

 

But hey, some GOOD news...

 

Wow... This is kinda big...

 

I wouldn't worry too much about prices jacking up because just as these two have merged, another merger took place that wouldn't have been posted on here. Hollywood Video, the company that plays host to a majority of Gamecrazy stores (Though they DO NOT own Gamecrazy, Gamecrazy is an independent company) has been bought by the Movie Gallery company. They are wanting to add a Gamecrazy to each store, which now not only includes the U.S. but Canada also. In other words, as E.B. and Gamestop merge and have more stores, Gamecrazy is also getting enough stores to balance it out so it's going to be about an even split in store numbers. They are actually going to have to compete heavily to get buyers. That's good news for all of us here on G.A.F. Gamecrazy has WAY better prices and deals then E.B. and Gamestop ever had anyway.

 

I still fear for some of my friends who worked at a couple E.B. stores. They were really good friends who I knew because they worked there, but their store is in a mall where a gamestop is also. I wonder which batch of workers will get the brutal axe...

 

Two Movie Galleries just popped up in my area, so I think I may be getting a Gamecrazy.