IP Communications Featured Articles

It seems for some time now ShoreTel (News - Alert) and Mitel have been involved in an enterprise edition of ping-pong. Mitel is ferociously trying to take over its largest competitor but ShoreTel’s board continues to volley each offer back into Mitel’s (News - Alert) court.

The unified communications and phone system provider, ShoreTel, unanimously rejected Mitel’s newest iteration of an offer late yesterday. The ShoreTel Board felt that MItel’s offer of $8.50 a share is a low-ball offering. ShoreTel believes it has better days ahead, and after implementation of its long term plan stockholders will see the benefits of the UC provider’s future growth.

"After careful deliberation, ShoreTel's Board of Directors has determined that the incremental value represented by Mitel's revised, unsolicited proposal is highly inadequate, and that this revised proposal is again an opportunistic attempt to acquire ShoreTel," said Chuck Kissner (News - Alert), Chair of ShoreTel's Board of Directors. "We continue to believe that Mitel's highly inadequate proposal does not reflect the value inherent in ShoreTel's business, nor does it reflect ShoreTel's compelling prospects for long-term growth and value creation."

At the end of October, ShoreTel rejected a lesser proposal of $8.10 a share. It is unclear how long Mitel will keep up the fight, but proposing unsolicited offer after unsolicited offer does not appear to be getting them anywhere.

October 20, after the initial rejected offer, MItel CO Rich McBee (News - Alert) and the ShoreTel Board had a very public and hostile debate over the consequences of ShoreTel’s decision.

Today, we hear a resolute Don Joos, ShoreTel CEO, make a stand,  "ShoreTel's focus on successfully executing its strategy has been driving improved financial performance and value creation, as evidenced by our recent financial results including our fiscal first quarter 2015 earnings report. We are confident that executing our strategic plan is the best path forward and will deliver substantially more value to ShoreTel stockholders than Mitel's significantly inadequate proposal." 

After today’s announcement it is abundantly clear that ShoreTel will not be going gentle into the night, and have drawn a line in the sand—it believes in its long term stability and profitability. Only time will tell where the proverbial chips fall but it is evident: ShoreTel unwilling to waiver, and unless Mitel decides to up its ante these two IP communications goliaths will remain just that—fierce competitors in a highly competitive market.