Pfizer Walks Away From AstraZeneca Takeover Bid

Drops offer to purchase drug company
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 26, 2014 10:49 AM CDT
Pfizer Walks Away From AstraZeneca Takeover Bid
In this May 4, 2014 photo, the Pfizer logo is displayed on the exterior of a former Pfizer factory in the Brooklyn borough of New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Pfizer says it does not intend to make a takeover offer for British drugmaker AstraZeneca. Today's announcement comes a week after AstraZeneca's board rejected a proposed $119 billion buyout offer from Pfizer, the world's second-biggest drugmaker by revenue. Pfizer Chairman and CEO Ian Read says the company's final proposal represented full value for AstraZeneca. Pfizer, the maker of Lipitor and Viagra, has been courting No. 8 AstraZeneca since January, saying their businesses would be stronger together. Pfizer had been waiting for AstraZeneca to engage in merger talks by today's deadline. Pfizer has previously said it would not make a hostile takeover bid directly to AstraZeneca's stockholders. (More Pfizer stories.)

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