Quark Inc has thrown in the towel and says it will not continue to pursue its acquisition of Adobe Systems Inc. The proposed deal – which some industry watchers had trouble taking seriously – has been abandoned, Quark said, because Adobe still refuses to sit down and talk about it. Quark had originally launched the takeover bid with a letter dated August 18 in which it proposed to engage in an acquisition transaction to acquire all or a significant portion of Adobe’s common stock for a cash price that would be a premium to current market prices. Adobe flat out rejected the proposal. Quark said that over the past week it has been trying to open a dialogue with Adobe, but they have not returned our phone calls, according to a statement issued Monday. The company insisted that it wanted to work out a deal for Adobe but due to current market conditions and our desire to do a friendly deal, we do not believe that a hostile transaction at this time would be beneficial to Quark, Adobe, the Adobe stockholders or our respective customers. Quark cited concerns over an expensive legal battle in light of poison pill defenses Adobe has in place as well as the costly distraction from everyday business operations a hostile move would bring. Quark said it intends to continue to pursue other acquisitions. Last week, Adobe reported less-than-pleasing third-quarter results that were hurt by slow sales in Japan and hefty restructuring charges from a 12% reduction in staff.
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