Take-Two Interactive

On a September day in 1993, Ryan Ashley Brant founded Take-Two Interactive in New York City. The company started small, publishing budget-priced PC games. Everything changed in 1998 when Take-Two acquired BMG Interactive, picking up the rights to a series called Grand Theft Auto. That deal would reshape the company and the entire industry.

Take-Two now operates through two powerhouse labels. Rockstar Games, acquired in 1998, is behind Grand Theft Auto V, which has sold over 190 million copies, and Red Dead Redemption 2, with more than 65 million units sold. The 2K label, formed in 2006, spans franchises like NBA 2K, Borderlands, BioShock, and Civilization. In 2022, Take-Two bought Zynga for $12.7 billion, adding mobile hits like FarmVille and Words With Friends to its portfolio.

The company went public on Nasdaq under the ticker TTWO and is a component of the Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500. Its market cap typically ranges from $25 billion to $35 billion. CEO Strauss Zelnick has led the company since 2007, steering it through controversies like the Hot Coffee mod scandal in 2005 and the massive GTA VI leak in 2022, which forced an early trailer release. Today, Take-Two is one of the three largest publicly traded game publishers, competing with Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard. [edit]