FTC continues to be thorn in EA's side over Take-Two bid

EA has postponed the deadline for its planned hostile takeover of Take-Two entertainment four times. Now it appears as if EA is ready to play hardball with the FTC itself.

The most recent deadline extension happened on June 3, when EA said it was postponing its decision until June 16. It appeared at that time that the two sides had reached an agreement on securing a deadline to conclude investigations into the merger.

In a filing with the SEC, EA said that it had agreed to hold off on the merger until either the FTC completed its investigation, or 45 days following EA's "substantial compliance" in providing the regulatory body with additional information.

That places a "final" deadline of July 18 on the merger, which is 45 days after the SEC filing in question. Of course it could be later, but it is likely that some type of resolution to the matter could be seen in late July.

However, Take-Two is going toe-to-toe with the FTC regarding the merger. In its own filing on Wednesday, the company disclosed that a federal court has ordered it to explain why it has not complied with requests for more information as a result of the merger.

A hearing is scheduled for June 24, unless Take-Two can settle with the FTC before that time. The company's position is that the latest request is "unnecessarily broad and would entail unacceptable additional expense." It intends to oppose the petition if it is forced to appear in court.

Take-Two plans to also ask the court to place "reasonable limits" on the amount of information sought. "The company will continue to cooperate actively and produce documents in response to the FTC's previous requests, and will of course attempt to seek an acceptable resolution to this matter as quickly as possible," it said in the filing.

Central to the argument against the combination of the two companies is sports gaming: together EA would have more than a 50 percent share of that segment.