UPDATE SOE CEO: "We aren't for sale and have never been."

Those who have been keeping up with the flood of gaming news probably already know of the rumors that Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has been on sale for the past two weeks. Online gaming company Zapak Digital Entertainment has shown interest and might very well pick up SOE for US 300 million.

Interestingly enough, this deal has gone under the radar of most financial analysts. According to the various sources of the Economic Times, the deal is already in the final stages of negotiation and SOE will belong to Zapak by next week.

Zapak Digital's purchase of SOE is part of their aggressive campaign to enter China's gaming market by early next year. A senior Zapak Official gave a statement about the company's move saying that:

This makes perfect sense for us, as around 80 of content in the gaming industry is manufactured internationally. Buying out Sony, will not only give us access but also expand our reach in the global market. This will reduce the cost drastically from $30 mn to $10mn, which will give us the advantage to channelise our funds towards marketing and other activities, the official said.

From the figures Sony Online Entertainment has been posting, it appears that this might be a very good acquisition for Zapak Digital. It has posted a revenue of US 150 million. If Zapak can maintain this, they could potentially be seeing a return of investment in as little as two years.

Update:

The CEO of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley has released a statement regarding this issue. He pointed out that Sony Online Entertainment has never been on sale and talks with Zapak Entertainment about selling the company never happened.

Here's what he had to say:

It's got a bunch of people inside SOE emailing me asking me what's going on. This story is 100 false. We aren't for sale and never have been. Nothing like this has ever been discussed with the Zapak guys. The truth is we were talking to them about distribution rights to one of our games. And we have no idea how this story got started.