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EA shares skyrocket

[UPDATE] Company share value closes up 17 percent after earnings report, Star Wars deal, and FIFA license extension.

161 Comments

[UPDATE] Shares of Electronic Arts closed today up 17.11 percent (+$3.15) to $21.56, the highest valuation since the end of 2011.

The original story follows below

Shares of Electronic Arts are up more than 15 percent today after the company's busy week of big news.The publisher announced a new partnership with FIFA today, reported full-year revenue of $3.79 billion yesterday, and signed a new Star Wars deal with Disney on Monday.

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At press time, EA shares are up 15.59 percent (+$2.87) to $21.28 for the day. This represents the company's highest stock value since the end of 2011.

EA's new partnership with FIFA will give the publisher exclusive license for future games through 2022. As part of the recent EA-Disney pact, EA will make new Star Wars games for consoles, PCs, tablets, and mobile. Battlefield developer DICE and Dead Space studio Visceral Games are currently working on the new games, powered by the Frostbite 3 engine.

EA's stock is hot today and if the company can execute its near- and far-term goals, growth will only continue, according to the publisher.

"As we enter a new fiscal year, EA is well-positioned for dynamic growth on next generation consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms," executive chairman and interim EA CEO Larry Probst said yesterday. "With world-class games, a rapidly growing digital business, and top-notch creative talent, we are excited about EA's strategy for FY 2014 and beyond."

In an effort to reduce costs, EA recently cut 10 percent of its global workforce, or around 930 people. The publisher will pay $16 million in severance expenses as a result.

EA is not the only game company to see its share value rise today. Grand Theft Auto parent publisher Take-Two Interactive is up 3.8 percent (+$0.60) to $16.35 today, while Activision is up 2.8 percent (+$0.42) to $15.36.

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dadkwashere

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Hopefully this news is fake like the Xbox Infinity thing...

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xXMMMMXx

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EA sometimes fail can do amazin and wonderfull games, but not make the best games only because this shhittt!But the games are not bad, only could do much better. I hope EA change policy.wish all companies evolve at all and I hope to improve because there is no hate, instead love them all, because the give me great and the best games i play in my life, and I wish the best for all because it can also play great games in the future.

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Atombomb1981

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The control the market and continue to feed us bullshit.

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julzeverne

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Great. People giving EA money so they can **** up another beloved franchise.

Since I have no intention of ever installing Origin, I guess I will never have to see how bad any of this crap will turn out.

So there's that.

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Yulaw2000

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Edited By Yulaw2000

Considering how bad it was, it's still relatively low but it seems some investors may have been quick to forget EA's recent track record.

Recent history shows that there's a good chance that they are going to mess this Star Wars deal up and their previous deal with FIFA hasn't stopped them from getting in their recent mess.

I'd very much like to see EA change their ways and start treating their customers well: until they start doing so, they can't expect to do very well as a company: hopefully, both EA and these investors will learn that some day.

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noladem504

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@Yulaw2000 I couldnt agree more. But i believe that is what this recent restructuring is about, which is why investors are flooding in. EA had bad management so the CEO is being replaced along with others that were seen to be holding the company back from being what it can. Hopefully this restructuring will fix all of their problems and we can see their full potential. They have too many great titles to not hope for the best. If they end up with the same old antics, oh well...bye bye EA

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Kemutsemu

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"According to the publisher."

Yeah, no. Their shares are going to regress back to the mean. No amount of Star Wars shovel-ware will keep their values this high.

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blackothh

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Edited By blackothh

oh dont worry, what goes up must come down

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julzeverne

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@blackothh There you go bringing physics and logic into the conversation...

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OldKye

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Edited By OldKye

"oh the jedis are going to feel this one"

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ApocaLeepse

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They're still not getting a penny from me until I see some massive positive changes to how they treat their customers.

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ACWH

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I'm a bit disgusted with the Premier League selling image rights to EA exclusively. This means no other developer can now mount a serious challenge to FIFA football. We all know Pro Evo suffers from a lack of licensed kits etc... amongst other things but this just means no competition for the next few years.

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ApocaLeepse

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@ACWH It's disgusting that a huge company such as EA gets exclusive rights to anything. It hurts smaller companies faster than you can say "business monopoly".

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theend3r

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Glad they killed off ME, DA and DS, I don't have a reason to support those bitches anymore.

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Neo_OnionKnight

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Oooh like that Star Wars movie "The Empire Strikes Back".


Them Sith Lords are makin money!

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ApocaLeepse

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Edited By ApocaLeepse

@Neo_OnionKnight Don't worry, I'm sure "Return of the Jedi" will come next. ;)

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julzeverne

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@ApocaLeepse @Neo_OnionKnight And then 3 of the worst scifi movies ever made, remember...

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gunsofdeschain

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this thing just doesn't die. It's like watching an 'Aliens' movie.

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tionmedon

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stock up 2day,bankruptcy 2morrow...........fap it..................


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commanderxp90

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Hey EA why don't you make the BattleFront 3 or Command N Conquer game to release before 2015? Let's focus on developing the BattleFront 3 or C&C game and ignore the shared stocks and investment in the rest!

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ApocaLeepse

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@commanderxp90 If they made a Battlefront 3 game, I can guarantee the scope would be nothing compared to what was originally planned for it. Everything would be sacrificed in the name of prettier graphics, online passes and microtransactions.

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julzeverne

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@ApocaLeepse @commanderxp90 and then rushed out the door incomplete after it goes over budget.

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ItchyIsVegeta

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As much as I can't stand this company, good for the average every day people who own stock in EA.

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Sav117

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hahahahaha, i havent bought an EA game for over 8 months or so....so none of this is mine! Up urs EA!. 8 months sober!, join me in not buying garbage!

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commanderxp90

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Edited By commanderxp90

@Sav117 Ditto! :D I won't buy any EA games because EA always kept stealing money from either consumers or gamers. Fux...you EA!

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julzeverne

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@commanderxp90 I never installed origin, and I never will.

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FlameBoyBen

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Its still pretty low, especially the pre-swtor pre-mass effect 3 they still haven't quite recovered

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CidX1

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Edited By CidX1

EA just teamed up with Disney to make star wars games didn't they? Likely had some impact.

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snova9308

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aparently, firing 10% of the total staff results in skyrocketing share prices.

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nutcrackr

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@snova9308 imagine how high the stock would soar if they fired 100% of their staff. EA stocks up 171%!

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nanorazor

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Edited By nanorazor

@nutcrackr @snova9308 Apparently they rehire new staff and pay a lower wage

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ApocaLeepse

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@noladem504 @nanorazor @nutcrackr @snova9308 I personally have doubts that EA will change, but I do respect your opinion on the matter and you do make a valid point. :)

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noladem504

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@nanorazor @nutcrackr @snova9308 Its called restructuring. The 10% layoffs more than likely saved the other jobs. They also fired their CEO. It is TOTAL restructuring. When companies are failing, sometimes you have to cut out the fat to save the rest of the companies (i.e: jobs). Investors more than likely see this as a good thing. It shows the company as a whole has acknowledged the problem and is addressing it. Being EA has seen so much success and has such titles as battlefield, madden, and star wars, any business minded person who knows the industry would see this as a good thing for all of us. The employees of the company and the consumer.
Hopefully this EA will be better than the last. I personally am tired of getting highly anticipated games when they first come out only to have to wait for their servers to catch up to play multiplayer or them to send out update patches to fix the single player. Its about time they get their sh$% together.

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glennvolio

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They really are the evil empire. :-(

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noladem504

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@glennvolio they just made money for alot of regular folks. Why is that evil?

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Zloth2

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Actually, stocks are up on the rumor that Gabe Newel will be hired as the new CEO of EA. ;)

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snova9308

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@Zloth2

what moron would possibly believe that...

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xanthan1

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@snova9308 @Zloth2 The same kind of idiot who believes cellphone gaming is the future and all gaming companies will fail if they don't start making cellphone games.

Shareholders tend to be morons with no pattern recognition, no common sense, and no long term planning.

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Zloth2

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@lilcurt1978 Lay off people and keep the productivity up and you'll make more profits. If Wall Street thinks you're trimming fat, they'll reward you big time. If they think you're cutting critical jobs because you're out of cash then they punish you.

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MW2ismygame

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Edited By MW2ismygame

WERE MAKING LOADS OF MONEY !!!!! But we need more becasue those pirates are killing us, Used games are killing us, offline is killing us, no-sub is killing us.....Oh and 10% of you will get pink slips !!!


Now to swim in my money pile !!!

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Barrakas21

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I dont wanna live on this planet anymore.

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jhcho2

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@Barrakas21

Seriously. What did you expect? If you couldn't see this coming, it's a sign that you need to work on managing your expectations.

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julzeverne

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Edited By julzeverne

@jhcho2 @Barrakas21 Better yet. Stop buying games from EA. Give your money to game companies who you respect.

I respect Valve. So I buy games through steam. I do not respect EA, so I will never install origin.

Consumers control the market. So let's start making good decisions for the future of gaming.

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jhcho2

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@julzeverne @jhcho2 @Barrakas21

The problem is, there are good developers worthy of support which fall under the EA banner. Bioware and Visceral Games are among them. Perhaps even Crytek. Boycotting would only serve to make talented developers go under.

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