Adobe Rebuffs Quark Bid
Shares in Adobe Systems rallied 8 percent Wednesday morning after privately held Quark said it offered to buy the maker of design software for an undisclosed premium to Adobe's current slumping stock price.
Spurning the smaller company's bid, Adobe (ADBE) said it has "exciting opportunities" for its investors, whose shares were wallowing just above a 52-week low when Denver-based Quark's offer came along.
Shares in Adobe added 2 to 26 9/16, still less than half their 52-week high, but making the issue one of only three stocks that moved higher among major U.S. software companies in recent trading.Adobe disclosed that Quark made a cash offer last week to acquire "all or a significant portion" of Adobe stock for an undisclosed premium to the stock's current value.
"As a result of these discussions, we may be able to refine our valuation and offer additional value to the Adobe stockholders if our review reveals earnings potential or synergistic opportunities beyond what is indicated by Adobe's publicly available information," Fred Ebrahimi, Quark's chief executive said in a letter to Adobe released Tuesday night.
Adobe said in a release it's not interested in merging with Quark, whose bid comes just three weeks after the San Jose-based company warned it will fall short of analysts' profit expectations and that key executives will be leaving.
Adobe said it may lose money for its fiscal third quarter, after netting $53.4 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Additionally, the company plans to cut 240 to 300 jobs from the current payroll of 3,000.
Adobe - known for it Photoshop and Illustrator - is shifting its products from paper-based to more computer-based. But analysts warned the company faces a difficult task in that regard.
Written By Brenon Daly