Samsung walks away from Sandisk

Well, there you go. Same situation as Microsoft/Yahoo. A non-binding bid, a rebuff, a lousy quarter and a walk away. I said I thought Samsung would be hard pressed not to lower their bid. They decided instead to pull it all together. Sandisk management is gonna be in tro-uble!

Under $10 I'm interested... but consider that a non-binding interest.

Here's the letter from Samsung to Sandisk:

October 22, 2008

Board of Directors
SanDisk Corporation
601 McCarthy Boulevard
Milpitas, CA 95035

Attention: Dr. Eli Harari, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Irwin Federman, Vice Chairman and Lead Independent
Director

*T

-0-
*T

Dear Eli and Irwin:

After nearly six months of efforts to pursue a transaction with no
meaningful progress, we are withdrawing our proposal to acquire
SanDisk. I am disappointed that we have been unable to reach an
agreement on our proposal. I continue to believe that a combination
of our two companies would have created a superior global brand, an
unparalleled technology platform and the scale and resources to drive
convergence in the marketplace. Had we been able to execute on our
proposal, your shareholders would have received full, fair and
certain value for their shares and your employees and other
stakeholders would have benefited from a broader platform and a wider
range of opportunities.

Nevertheless, we have obligations to our own shareholders which
require that we take a disciplined approach, particularly with
respect to significant initiatives such as this. That disciplined
approach requires that we squarely face the growing uncertainties in
your business, which may continue to deteriorate in this difficult
economic environment and further impact your standalone value. Your
recently announced third quarter results serve only to illustrate
this risk. Your surprise announcements of a quarter billion dollar
operating loss, a hurried renegotiation of your relationship with
Toshiba and major job losses across your organization all point to a
considerable increase in your risk profile and a material
deterioration in value, both on a stand-alone basis as well as to
Samsung. As a result of these developments, we are no longer
interested in acquiring SanDisk at $26/share.

While I regret that we were unable to work together to achieve a
business combination that would have created new opportunities for
all of us, we wish you the best in meeting the challenges ahead.

Sincerely,

Yoon Woo Lee
Vice Chairman & CEO
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.