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United Online Rejects Buyout

United Online Inc. said on Wednesday that it has rejected a buyout offer from Los Angeles investment bank B. Riley Capital Management LLC but will continue to review selling off assets or the entire company, along with other alternatives. Earlier this month, B. Riley offered to buy all outstanding shares in the Woodland Hills tech company at $12.50 a share, or a total of $185 million. “The board, after consulting with its advisors, concluded that the current proposal was conditional and undervalues the company and its prospects,” United Online said in a statement. United Online owns several Internet service provider companies, as well as websites and the customer loyalty program MyPoints and mobile commerce app Swappable. In recent years, the company has divested its web assets. For example, floral ecommerce site FTD Cos. Inc. was spun off as a separate company in 2013. Earlier this year, United Online sold social media site Classmates.com for $30 million, and it has announced plans to sell StayFriends, a European social media site. On Wednesday, Principal Executive Officer Howard G. Phanstiel said that JMP Securities LLC, a division of JMP Group in San Francisco, has been hired as a financial advisor to assist the strategic review process. “Building on the company’s solid capital position and core competencies, our management team is implementing and executing its business strategy with the goals of returning to revenue growth, higher profitability and stronger positioning for the long term,” Phanstiel said in a prepared statement. Shares closed up 6 cents, or more than 2 percent, to $11.32 on the Nasdaq.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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