The California-based equity group, whose directors include rock singer Bono of U2 fame, is reported to be paying GBP 71m for the video game publisher after it experienced poor sales and dwindling cash reserves despite the success of its popular games Lara Croft, Championship Manager and Hitman.
London, UK-based Eidos put itself up for sale eight months ago because it apparently deemed itself too small to earn a profit. The bid from Elevation Partners, which consists of head honchos from IT companies Apple, Electronic Arts and Silver Lake Partners, is set to provide it with the GBP 23m it needs to continue trading.
The acquisition is also expected to enable Eidos to invest in research and development ahead of the launch of new hardware, which is to be suspended until next year in an attempt to allow the company to maximize its creativity.
