New Sheriff at Take-Two

Zelnick also has taken his share of chances. Michael Aiken, managing director of Spring, a record-label music marketing agency, says Zelnick is a man always ahead of the curve.

Aiken first met Zelnick when he wrote a letter to Zelnick suggesting how BMG could leverage its catalog to help advertisers connect with consumers.

"Zelnick was probably the only CEO of a major media company who would, off a letter written by a completely unknown person, say 'let me talk to this guy,'" says Aiken. "He was shopping for ideas and wasn't afraid to talk to anyone who had an interesting idea."

Though Zelnick and Aiken didn't end up working together at BMG, Aiken says it was clear that Zelnick was rethinking the music business long before everyone else.

Take-Two could use some of that out-of-the-box kind of thinking. The New York-based game publisher posted a higher-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter, amid the video-game industry's transition toward newer consoles such as Sony's(SNE) PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's(NTDOY) Wii.

"Take-Two's record of providing guidance and not meeting it is pretty pathetic," says Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne, Agee & Leach, which does not own shares or have an investment-banking relationship with Take-Two.

For its part in bringing about a regime change at Take-Two, ZelnickMedia will get a monthly management fee of $62,500, an annual bonus of up to $750,000 if it achieves predetermined financial performance thresholds, and an option to purchase shares equal to 2.5% of the common stock, according to the SEC filing.

It will take more than a reckless gamer to bet against Zelnick at this point.

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