Take-Two Founder Resigns
Late today, it was quietly announced that Take-Two Interactive Software’s founder and former chairmen/CEO Ryan Brant was resigning after being on disability leave since this past June.
Brant founded the publisher in 1993, served as its CEO until 2001, its chairman until 2004, and was working in a “nonexecutive capacity” as vice president of production until today. Take-Two, which owns developers such as 2K Games, Rockstar Games, and Global Star Interactive, is the publisher of such mega-hits as Grand Theft Auto, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Serious Sam.
To say this news came on a strange day is a bit of an understatement, since both Bully (from Rockstar) and Family Guy (from 2K Games) were put up on store shelves this morning. Whether or not Brant retired because he was unable to return to work due to his undisclosed disability or because it has something to do with his company’s investigation by securities regulators was not disclosed. At the moment, these regulators are looking into Take-Two’s stock options grant policies dating back to 1997… essentially, this means the government’s checking to see if the company manipulated grant dates and stock option prices to significantly increase their value for the executives who received them.
At the moment, I feel kinda bad for thinking that Brant’s retirement has more to do with the latter than the former; especially since there’s no direct evidence to support such a theory. Still, after the various scandals surrounding the company and its leaders for the past year, it’s kinda hard not to automatically assume the worst.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Video Games on 17 October 2006
Other stuff like this: 2K games, Bully, Family Guy, Global Star, Grand Theft Auto, Oblivion, Rockstar, Ryan Brant, Serious Sam, Take-Two
