WSJ Rumor: Sweetened AZ Offer From Pfizer, Tonight. I say: Gotta Be $120 Billion Or Better To Get It Done

I'll say it again -- this will not be a hostile deal -- as Mr. Read just can't get it done, in a fight. And to get a friendly deal, Pfizer needs to bump the offer up significantly -- to a mostly cash offer of $120 billion (or better than $120 billion; like $128 billion -- if it is priced as mostly in Pfizer stock) -- in my experienced opinion.

So -- again -- we wait for May 26 -- but Pfizer might well walk away on that day, now -- after draining about 14 per cent from its own stock price, in the process. Looks rather foolish to my eye. Pfizer would recover at least some of that, should it walk away -- but again, what on Earth was Mr. Read thinking? If Pfizer walks away, he all but confirms it was a demi-god's tax protest, here in the USA. So, here's the WSJ bit:

. . . .Pfizer Inc. was planning to make a sweetened takeover offer for AstraZeneca PLC on Sunday, according to people familiar with the matter, in what could be a last-ditch effort to bring the British drug giant to the negotiating table.

Pfizer, which has been rebuffed by AstraZeneca more than once, may walk away from its proposed deal if its latest advance is turned away, these people said. . . .

There is no guarantee Pfizer would walk away should that occur, however, and people close to the matter have said in the past that the pursuit could ultimately turn hostile, with the U.S. company making an offer directly to AstraZeneca's shareholders.

Details of a new offer and where any talks between the two companies currently stand couldn't be learned. . . .

So, not much in the rumor, at all. Have a good evening, one and all -- and "Go Blackhawks" -- now up 2 to 1, in Period Two, over the Kings!