Qwest drops bidding for MCI, calls process 'skewed'

WASHINGTON - Qwest Communications dropped out of the bidding Monday for telecom rival MCI, calling the process "skewed" in favor of Verizon, whose 8.44-billion-dollar takeover bid was accepted by the MCI board.
The announcement came hours after MCI said its board endorsed Verizon's bid even though it was lower than the 9.7 billion dollars offered by Qwest.
"We believe that the decision of the MCI board to once again favor Verizon is another example of that board's failure to accept the offer that maximizes shareowner value," said Qwest, a regional telecom carrier based in Denver, Colorado.
"We do note that the declaration of 'superiority' for our 30 dollar (per share) offer contained no discussion of the factors the MCI board now describes as reasons 30 dollars is not deemed greater than 26 dollars."
Qwest added: "It is no longer in the best interests of shareowners, customers and employees to continue in a process that seems to be permanently skewed against Qwest."

05/02/2005 18:05 GMT