US West rejects Qwest takeover bid

Following a meeting of its board of directors today, US West said it would not accept Qwest's hostile bid to merge with the company, at least for now.

Citing concerns about the volatility of Qwest's stock, and about lack of control in a merged US West-Qwest company, US West said it would instead stay on course for its planned merger with Global Crossing.

"Our vision for some time has been to create a data- and wireless-centric company that provides integrated services to customers inside our current region and globally," said Sol Trujillo, CEO of US West, in a statement. "We continue to support and are excited about the strategy we've put forth."

Qwest made a hostile takeover bid for both US West and Frontier earlier this month, hoping to overturn Global Crossing's earlier deal to merge with both those companies.

The new offer, initially valued at close to $55 billion for both companies, was originally considerably higher than Global Crossing's bid. But Qwest's stock dropped precipitously on the day the offer was announced, effectively leveling out the two competing bids.

Late last week, Frontier said it too would stick with Global Crossing's offer at least for now. Both US West and Frontier say they will continue to "monitor events relating to the Qwest proposal," however, leaving room for either company to change its mind if Qwest sweetens its bid.

Qwest said today that it would stick by its original bid for US West.