Founded in 2010, Nordeus is a mobile games company based in Belgrade, Serbia, best known for Top Eleven, the world’s most successful mobile soccer management game* with over 240 million registered users. Top Eleven provides players with a platform for creating and managing their own soccer clubs, while leading them through daily competitions with a global community. The evergreen title continually entertains players through innovating gameplay formats, events, and features – with additional enhancements to come. In addition, Nordeus is developing their future soccer-related mobile titles and technology. Nordeus is led by its co-founders, Branko Milutinović (CEO), Milan Jovović (CCO), Ivan Stojisavljević (CTO), and Tomislav Mihajlović (COO), who will continue to oversee the studios' approximately 180 employees following its acquisition by Take-Two. Mr. Milutinović will report to Mr. Efrat.
“Our investment in Nordeus strengthens further Take-Two's mobile game business, is highly complementary to Social Point and Playdots, and broadens our sports portfolio with our first-ever soccer offerings," said Michael Worosz, Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy and Independent Publishing for Take-Two. “Over the last decade, Top Eleven has grown its audience, revenue, and profitability through Nordeus' introduction of live-ops and ongoing gameplay innovations that continue to drive ongoing consumer engagement. It’s also incredibly exciting for Take-Two to expand our operations into a vibrant, beautiful city such as Belgrade; the local science and engineering talent in Serbia is very strong and the quality of the Nordeus team is a testament to that. We are very pleased to welcome Branko, Milan, Ivan, and Tomislav, and the entire team at Nordeus to the Take-Two family, and are excited by the long-term potential of their development capabilities, which we expect will deliver positive contributions to our business.”
“We’re delighted to be joining the Take-Two family," added Branko Miluntinović, CEO and co-founder of Nordeus. "From the start of our conversations with Strauss and the team, we found that we were connected with common values, culture, and a shared vision. From a start-up back in 2010, to what we are today, Nordeus has been built on giving the world more champions through great gaming experiences such as Top Eleven, while also rooting ourselves in the community in Serbia through our continuous efforts in giving back. We are excited to take both our products and our work locally, to the next level with them as we continue our aim of putting Serbia on the global map of gaming.”
The upfront price of $225 million is comprised of cash and $90 million in newly issued shares of Take-Two common stock. The Nordeus founding team will receive the stock consideration and continue to run the company. The cash portion was funded from Take-Two’s cash on hand. The number of Take-Two shares will be calculated by dividing $90 million by the weighted average closing price per share on the Nasdaq Global Select Market during the thirty trading day period ending on the second trading day prior to the closing date. The cash portion of the purchase price is subject to standard closing adjustments. In addition, the agreement also includes earn-out consideration based upon Nordeus achieving EBITDA results above certain thresholds during each of the first two years. Take-Two's acquisition of Nordeus is the Company's latest strategic initiative to bolster its mobile business following the 2017 and 2020 acquisitions of Social Point and Playdots, respectively, which are overseen by Nir Efrat, Senior Vice President and Head of Mobile for Take-Two.