Quark announced yesterday that it will not further pursue acquiring Adobe Systems, which Quark said was not interested in discussing a friendly acquisition.
Quark initially made its interest in the acquisition known on August 18, saying it would pay more than the current stock value for the company.
"Since last week, we have again tried to open a dialogue with Adobe, but to no avail -- they have not returned our phone calls," said Quark President and CEO Fred Ebrahimi in a statement. "We wanted to engage in friendly discussions regarding the specifics of our proposal, but Adobe is not even willing to do that."
Ebrahimi said a hostile takeover would not benefit Quark, Adobe, Adobe's stockholders, or either company's customers.
"Not only would this involve a protracted and expensive legal battle in light of Adobe's poison pill and other defenses, but we are also concerned that it could significantly detract from our day-to-day business operations," said Tim Gill, Quark's founder and chairman. "This is why we have always said that we wanted to do a friendly deal and accordingly, we believe that we now have no choice but to withdraw our proposal."
Quark said it will pursue other acquisitions.
Quark Inc., in Denver, is at http://www.quark.com/.