According to a report filed by Reuters today, the real power-brokers in the world - corporate investors - believe that Electronic Arts' bid for GTA IV publisher, Take Two, is more not less likely to be achieved, even after the launch of the game.

Reuters has collated the 'arbitrage spread' of potential merger and acquisition deals between US-quoted companies. The report states that, "Historically, the wider the spread, the more investors doubt a deal will close. Arbitrage spreads measure the difference between the offered takeover price and the target company's current trading price".

So, to give you some perspective, the spread for Microsoft (Acquirer) and Yahoo (Target) is 13.1%. The spread for Macrovision (A) Gemstar TV Guide (T) is 57.57%.

The spread between for Electronic Arts and Take Two is... -0.91%!

Take-Two's stock price on NASDAQ closed down by 15 cents (7.5p) yesterday at $26.09 (£13). EA's price closed up by $1.72 (85p) at $53.19 (£26).

^{Source: Reuters}