BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) -- Nuance Communications Inc., which makes speech recognition software, slammed Zi Corp.'s management Monday for rebuffing its $40.4 million unsolicited takeover offer, calling the decision by Zi's board "perplexing and inappropriate" because of the significant premium Nuance offered.Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance, whose software is found in cars and dictation systems and consumer electronics, made its all-cash, 80-cents-per-share bid for Zi last week. The bid represented a 150-percent premium over Zi's closing stock price the day before the offer was announced.
Zi is a Canadian firm whose software is used in mobile phones to help people send more grammatically correct text messages and e-mails by predicting their typing habits and correcting commonly misspelled words. Zi responded by saying it wouldn't negotiate with Nuance over a potential deal.
Nuance CEO Paul Ricci said in a statement Monday that Zi's "refusal to negotiate is perplexing and inappropriate given the compelling premium our proposal represents to Zi's market price and the liquidity opportunity it will create, especially in light of the disappointing financial performance and cash outlook Zi reported last week."
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