Sony Music Entertainment Born, Take Two Off the Market

Crossing T’s and dotting I’s, this week there were a couple news briefs from the M&A front:

Sony BMG: After months of rumors, Sony (SNE) announced August 5th that they’d reached an agreement to buy partner Bertelsmann’s fifty percent stake in their joint Sony BMG music label. Regulators in Europe approved the deal a few weeks ago and it’s now officially complete. The world’s second largest record label, which includes famed imprints Columbia, Arista, Epic and RCA records, will now be called Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. and be a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. Bertelsmann received $1.2b, including $300m in cash that was carried on Sony BMG’s books.

Take Two (TTWO): EA (ERTS) walked from its hostile takeover attempt in August, and two weeks ago, walked from the prospect of a friendly deal too. Now Take Two Interactive will walk away from sales discussions and get back to building their business. In a press release Thursday, the game company announced they were concluding their “review of strategic alternatives.”  Per the official word: “Following detailed discussions with various interested parties over the last five months, Take Two’s Board of Directors has determined that it is in the best interests of stockholders to conclude its review of strategic alternatives and to continue operating and building Take Two as an independent company.”