Zelnick Claps Back at Investor Over GTA 6 Delays at Take-Two Shareholder Meeting
At Take-Two's September 17 virtual shareholder meeting, an investor read out a blunt question about "years of delays, missed expectations" and whether the board should replace senior executives. CEO Strauss Zelnick read it back in full — then took issue with every word.
Take-Two Interactive's annual virtual shareholder meeting on September 17 was supposed to be routine. Instead, Grand Theft Auto 6 dominated the questions — and one investor's blunt challenge about the game's delays got CEO Strauss Zelnick to answer with what Notebookcheck called a "mic drop" response.
According to Kotaku, which covered the meeting with audio from the call, most of the investor questions were about GTA 6 — the PC version, multiplayer, and other topics Zelnick has fielded for years. Then came the question he decided to read in full rather than paraphrase:
"Many shareholders have tolerated years of delays, missed expectations, and continued dependence on a small number of major franchises. If these issues persist, does the board believe that the current management team remains the right group to lead the company, or is prepared to replace senior executives if operational performance and shareholder value creation do not improve?"
Zelnick agreed that if the management team underperformed, the board would replace them. Then, in a tone Kotaku described as about as close to grumpy as a corporate executive can muster, he pushed back: "I would, however, quibble with your characterization in the question."
The 2007 turnaround story
Zelnick then walked the call through the state of Take-Two when the current management team took over in March 2007. "The stock price was at 17. The revenue of the company was under a billion dollars. The company was under investigation by at least four government entities, had not filed annual reports in 13 months, and had not scheduled an annual meeting despite obligations to do so. They had one major franchise in GTA. The rest of the business was losing money, and the company was very nearly bankrupt."
Since then, he said, the team reduced the cost profile, diversified the company meaningfully, entered the mobile business, and launched more than 11 franchises that have each sold over 5 million units with an individual release. "And today," Zelnick said, "[we are] the largest by market cap of pure play interactive entertainment company that's public on Earth."
No new details on GTA 6
For all the drama, the meeting produced no new information about the game itself. GTA 6 remains dated November 19, 2026, and Zelnick gave no definitive answer on a PC version or multiplayer. It is, after all, 59 days from launch — the schedule, at least, is no longer a matter of debate.