Headline Feeds
NetCreations, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTCR) rose 2 9/32 to 6 21/32 Thursday after the e-mail marketing company said an unidentified suitor offered to buy the company for US$7 per share, beating a pending offer from DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK).
NetCreations said directors found the other offer "superior," and notified DoubleClick that the agreement was off unless a sweeter proposal was in the offing. NetCreations agreed in October to merge with DoubleClick, but the agreement allowed the company to entertain other offers.
After the close of trading, DoubleClick said it would not make a counter-offer, and called off the merger plan, leaving NetCreations to pay a termination fee of $8.6 million plus expenses.
NetCreations opened lower Friday, losing 1/32 to 6 5/8 in early trading. DoubleClick rose 1/2 to 9 11/16 over the same period.
"We are disappointed that NetCreations won't be a part of our success, but considering NetCreations' recently announced operating results and our own internal progress on e-mail, we have decided not to raise our existing offer," said DoubleClick chief financial officer Stephen Collins.
"Going forward, we will continue to aggressively pursue opportunities to grow our e-mail business both organically and through acquisitions," Collins said.
In November, NetCreations lowered its forecasts for fourth-quarter revenue and earnings, citing a "challenging" environment for online advertising and marketing.
"Our revenues and earnings to date have been adversely affected by the
decline in marketing-related expenditures associated with our e-commerce
companies and other dot-com customers," said chairman and chief executive
officer Rosalind Resnick. "In addition, we have not yet seen the surge in
holiday spending this year that we traditionally experience during the
fourth quarter."
