Via the San Jose Mercury News, CEO John Chambers told Cisco shareholders that Tandberg shareholders are "testing" Cisco to see if Cisco will pay any more than the $3 billion agreed-upon price, a dynamic that I explored in a blog a few days ago.Chambers takes the expected hard line--he says Cisco won't pay too much for Tandberg, but he doesn't say he won't pay more: "I believe we will find a way to get the deal done, but we don't do it at a price that's not good for our shareholders," the Mercury News quotes Chambers as saying.
The paper also points out that Tandberg is Cisco's first acquisition outside of the U.S., which is kind of surprising. Chambers seems to be tacitly saying that Cisco would have paid more for Tandberg if it were a U.S. company:
Chambers said Tandberg's location in Norway was a factor in the offer price. "If it's too far away the risk goes up," Chambers said. "That's why you pay less for a company that's in Norway than one that's close by."
