The board of directors at Take-Two Interactive has rejected Electronic Arts' offer to buy the company at US$ 26 per share.

The board made clear that the offered amount was inadequate and was not in the best interest of the stockholders. In addition, the board also gave a unanimous recommendation to the stockholders not to tender any of their shares to Electronic Arts.

A recent press release detailed the different reasons why the board decided that US$ 26 per share was not enough to purchase the company.

Here's an abbreviated version of the list of the different justifications the board gave in support of their decision:

• EA's Offer price is inadequate and substantially undervalues the Company.
• The Company's financial advisors, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, have each delivered an opinion stating that, as of the date of such opinion, the EA Offer price was inadequate, from a financial point of view, to the stockholders of the Company.
• The Company's directors and executive officers believe that the EA Offer price is inadequate and do not intend to tender their Shares.
• The Board of Directors is committed to exploring strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value and may be able to find a better alternative to the EA Offer.
• The timing of the EA Offer is opportunistic.
• The EA Offer does not reflect progress in the Company's revitalization efforts.
• The EA Offer does not reflect the Company's potential synergy value that a proposed combination with EA would create.
• The EA Offer does not properly reflect the Company's business, financial condition, current business strategy and future prospects. The Board of Directors believes that management's and the Board of Directors' understanding of and familiarity with the Company's business, financial condition, current business strategy and future prospects has not been fully reflected in the Company's results of operations or Share price.
• The consideration offered by EA is taxable. The consideration offered by EA would in general be taxable to the Company's stockholders.
• The Offer is highly conditional, which results in significant uncertainty that the Offer will be consummated.

Take-Two Interactive's Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, also gave out a few words regarding their decision. While Take-Two is "open to beginning informal discussions starting now," Zelnick stressed that the interests of the company's stockholders "would hardly be served by accepting an offer from EA at the wrong price and the wrong time."