Take Two CEO quits as Q2 financial forecast drops into the red

Publisher Take Two has seen its share price fall sharply after chief executive Jeffrey Lapin announced his resignation from the company, following the announcement that the firm is facing a surprise loss in the second quarter.

It's not known whether Lapin's resignation, which comes after only 18 months in the job, is related to the slashed financial forecasts. The figures now call for a 15 cent loss on sales of $170 million, down from the original forecast - made only last month - which expected a 33 cent profit on sales of $220 million.

The lowered forecasts are attributed to poor catalogue sales during the second quarter, along with delays to key titles - with Red Dead Revolver slipping past the end of the quarter in North America, while later in the year, The Warriors has moved out of fiscal 2004 and into 2005.

Richard Roedel will be stepping up to the position of interim CEO (having been made non-executive chairman when Richard Brant resigned last month), while a number of other senior management reshuffles will see Paul Eibeler being appointed as president (and becoming a director) and international managing director Gary Lewis relocating from the UK to New York to work as global COO.