Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NDAQ: TTWO) shares dropped sharply after Electronic Arts Inc. (NDAQ: ERTS) dropped its $2 billion hostile bid and instead opted to pursue private talks with the company. Shares fell during today's trading on concerns that EA would walk away entirely or come back with a lower bid. However, on the upside, analysts now believe that a deal will be more probable with friendly talks in the works.

Many analysts believe that EA is going to take a second look at the buyout since Take-Two's blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto" game will come out before any takeover could take place. After all, the original purchase price was predicated on the distribution of that game during Christmas of this year. As a result, the new offering price, if it is negotiated, may be lower than many investors expect. Others insist that the game will add value to the Take-Two takeover.

Many experts believe that GTA IV has already been priced into Take-Two's stock price. The video game has already sold some 11 million units and pulled in revenues of $500 million in its first week. As a result, the company has increased its estimates for fiscal 2008 revenues from a range of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion from $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion. Take-Two has refused to sell the company before its release, although some analysts now believe a takeover should be closer to $28 per share.

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Timminco Limited (TSE: TIM) shares fell sharply earlier this week after the company reported lower-than-expected sales and made some questionable statements to investors. Short-seller Asensio has been making a bear case on the stock for some time, and it now appears like many of their predictions are coming true. Shares fell sharply after the news hit the market.

Timminco's 221 million tons of solar silicon shipped fell short of expectations due to contamination issues previously brought up by Asensio's research and denied by CEO Heinz Schimmelbusch in a May 30th article that appeared in the Globe and Mail. Earlier this week, the company elected to hold back 70 tonnes of silicon due to higher-than-expected phosphorous levels.

Asensio's issues with Timminco deals with its accounting for returns in sales recognition. A report on July 22nd issued by the short-seller questioned statements made by company officials that Timminco's customers were declining to return even highly contaminated parts of ingots for "extra credit offered by Timminco".

The big question going forward is whether or not the average selling price would decline due to returned material. CFO Rober Dietrich reiterated that there were no returns in the quarter, but did not shed any light on statements made by other executives mentioned above. As a result, Asensio believes there exists a possiblity of fraud within the high-flying company.

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The internet has become the new operating system with many companies moving many of their operations online. Microsoft Corporation (NYSE: MSFT) holds the monopoly on desktops and had the lead on web browsers until recently when competitor Firefox took a large share of the web browser market. So, how much is Firefox worth and should Google Inc. (NDAQ: GOOG) consider looking at Firefox?

How much does Firefox make? SpreadFirefox.com indicates that 622,003,431 people have downloaded the Firefox web browser with experts estimating that the firm makes $1 per download from the Google search box in the corner. The numbers suggest that the company is making between $100 million and $200 million per year in gross revenues with solid growth rates.

Additional revenues could be easily realized through other browser add-ons, default homepage ads, and other techniques. Since the Mozilla Foundation is more of a non-profit organization, revenue-generating activities have been kept relatively simple and limited in scope. Moreover, changes may alienate some users. Regardless, there is ample opportunity for increases.

Next, expenses must be considered. Mozilla's employee count is estimated at around 90 with more hiring planned in the future. Assuming that the firm has 100 full-time employees at $100,000 per employee, plus $50 million a year in other equipment/service costs, total expenses are around $60 million per year. This pegs the annual gross profits at around $40 million to $140 million.

Public companies also face additional costs that must be included in the net profit calculation. Sarbanes Oxley compliance costs around $5 million a year with taxes taking out an additional chunk of change. This would leave the firm with around $40 to $90 million in net income after all is said and done.

Investors know that public companies all trade at earnings multiples based on growth rates. Given the market growth, investors could expect a minimum price-to-earnings ratio of 25x earnings, which implies a valuation of around $1 billion to $2.2 billion. This is relatively conservative given the recent valuation of Facebook by Microsoft and acquisitions by Google.

Of course, Mozilla has repeatedly insisted that it would not go public. However, growing pressure on Google to find new revenue growth streams may force them to take a look at the company (Microsoft wouldn't have a chance) while the increasing valuations may be too much for some to resist.

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