Konami said to Buy Capcom

RUMOR #2: Konami is buying Capcom.

Source: An article on the Bloomberg financial news service.

The official story: See below.

What we heard: Late last week, excitable industry watchers picked up on the Bloomberg article as heralding another union of two major Japanese game companies. Consolidation has been a trend during the last year, with Sammy buying Sega, Bandai merging with Namco, and Square Enix making a $600 million bid for Taito. The Bloomberg piece outlines a similar scenario, with Konami, which bought HudsonSoft in April, acquiring Capcom. "The company [Capcom] is in a difficult situation financially," said analyst Hiromu Takada, who speculated that the company is ripe for a takeover. Several other analysts weighed in with their opinions, with one saying that cash-flush Konami is in "attack mode." But opinions, albeit informed ones, are all the Bloomberg article contains. It's completely speculative, outlining possible scenarios, not any done deals. That said, neither company would confirm--or deny--that merger talks were happening, though Capcom gave GameSpot a statement that left the impression it was not for sale. "Capcom has not been involved in any merger or acquisition in its 20-year history," said a rep for the company. "Talk of a merger with Konami is based on an analyst comment that Capcom would be a likely candidate for acquisition or merger. Capcom treats this as a rumor, and we make it a policy to not comment on rumors."

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus...for now.

more information on http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/20/news_6133951.html?tag=nl.e513