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Wednesday April 06, 01:31
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Qwest fails bidder war with Verizon for MCI
(by Helen Snow)
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The board of MCI Inc. late Tuesday night voted to stick with an accepted bid from Verizon Communications Inc., rejecting a higher offer from Qwest Communications International Inc.
Qwest early Wednesday morning acknowledged that MCI had rejected its $8.9 billion bid preferring Verizon’s $7.5 billion offer.
However, Qwest also pointed that the fight with MCI and Verizon have not finished yet. "We are confident that our offer is superior, and statements of support from many MCI shareholders indicate that they are in agreement with us," Qwest said in a statement. "Qwest will allow shareholders to dictate the next steps," the statement continued.
New York-based Verizon reacted on MCI’s voting quite optimistically: "We are pleased to see the process move to the next step where we can begin the proxy phase of this transaction," said Verizon spokesman Peter Thonis.
Verizon and Qwest, two closest rivals for telephone industry, have been fighting for nearly two months over MCI, which serves a list of prominent government and corporate clients. The Qwest’s financial troubles, including a $17 billion debt load, and the long-term value of the Qwest shares forced CI’s board to accept lower bids from Verizon rather than to merge with Qwest.
MCI’s shares fell seven cents to $25.01 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Tuesday before the latest developments. Qwest’s stock surged four cents, or 1.1%, to $3.86 a share, while Verizon’s stock rose 12 cents to $35.77 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
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