The drama surrounding Take-Two may be coming to an end. What started as some rather hostile action by EA to force a sellout later turned into "friendly" negotiations. When EA decided to pull their offer after Take-Two stalled, the company saw a massive plummeting in their stock value. This drew the attention of Activision, who also was interested in the company.
After all that, Take-Two has decided to take the high road and remain independent. The company claims that they are actually in a very secure position, with plenty of cash on hand and no debt to deal with, giving them freedom to publish games their way.
I can't say I was particularly enthusiastic about Take-Two being purchased by EA. I have seen a lot of other companies come into the "EA fold" and then see those companies long-standing series get driven into the ground. Hopefully Take-Two finds independent publishing still feasible in the future.