EA Stock at Two-Year High After BioWare/Pandemic Acquisition Announcement

Shares of Electronic Arts were trading at $61.50 at 1:02 p.m. EDT today, a two-year high for the company. As of 2:32 p.m. EDT the stock is at $61.35, a 4.53% increase since yesterday's closing price, most likely due to the company's recent acquisition of both BioWare and Pandemic game studios from Elevation Partners. The announcement of the acquisition came near the end of trading yesterday and had little effect on the stock's price. Despite EA paying an unquestionably large sum for both studios, $860 million, the company's investors seem to have spoken, giving the ever-growing mega-publisher their blessing in adding both BioWare and Pandemic to its stable. The purchase price is apparently a record sum as far as video game acquisitions go, surpassing Microsoft's former record purchase of U.K.-based developer Rare for $375 million. In a conference call proceeding the announcement, EA CFO Warren Jensen said he expects the acquisition to nearly pay for itself by 2010, earning the company an estimated $600 million.