Undaunted by Carbonite Inc.'s rejection of its $415 million takeover offer, digital media company J2 Global Inc. said it is extending its tender offer by another month.
Los Angeles-based J2 Global(Nasdaq: JCOM) in December sought to buy Boston-based online backup company Carbonite (Nasdaq: CARB) for $15 per share, a premium over the stock's trading price. Carbonite stock was trading at $14.89 a share late Tuesday in New York.
On Jan. 9, Carbonite said its board unanimously rejected J2's unsolicited offer but opened up the possibility of a sale of the company at some point in the future. Carbonite said in a regulatory filing that its board, in consultation with its legal and financial advisors, determined that J2's offer "substantially undervalues the company and is not in the best interests of Carbonite stockholders."
J2, which already holds a 9.5 percent stake in Carbonite, on Tuesday said its tender offer was set to expire at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Jan. 26, and, at that time, about 6.18 million shares were tendered and not withdrawn.
The company said it still intends to buy all tendered shares and it also has been in discussions with Carbonite over the terms of a proposed confidentiality agreement to permit j2 to participate in Carbonite's previously announced potential sale process.
Accordingly, j2 said it is extending its tender offer to 5 p.m. Eastern time on Feb. 26, in order to complete the negotiations and/or in hopes of allowing the Carbonite board "sufficient time to take the actions necessary to allow j2 to complete the acquisition of all tendered shares."
J2's business cloud services brands include eFax, eVoice, FuseMail, Campaigner, KeepItSafe and Onebox and it operates a messaging network in 49 countries. Its digital media division consists of Ziff Davis Inc., which offers technology, gaming and lifestyle content through digital properties such as PCMag.com, IGN.com, AskMen.com and Toolbox.com. Ziff Davis also operates digital ad platform NetShelter Powered by BuyerBase and business research service Ziff Davis B2B.