2. The One That Got Away
Dell engaged in a fierce bidding war with Hewlett-Packard to acquire storage specialist 3Par before dropping out after HP’s top bid hit $33 per share, or nearly $2.4 billion. Dell had initially agreed to purchase 3Par for $18 per share, roughly twice what the market had been trading for at the time. But HP countered and the two powerhouses went back and forth before HP’s winning bid. Dell walked away with a $72 million termination settlement and kept its own cash to use in a future acquisition.
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