Monster Says MediaNews Attempts To Put Randstad Offer At Risk

(RTTNews) - Responding to MediaNews Group Inc.'s letter dated August 19, 2016, Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) said Wednesday that the letter was based on flawed and uninformed assumptions and the letter and MediaNews has attempted to put Randstad all-cash offer at risk without offering superior proposal.

Monster Chief Executive Officer Tim Yates said in an open letter to investors on Wednesday that MediaNews called for draconian expense cuts, ignoring that more than $100 million of annual operating expenses have already been cut over the past several years.

He said MediaNews called for reducing capital expenditures, ignoring that capital expenditures have already been cut by about 50% over the past several year. capital expenditures at the current reduced levels are needed for product enhancements to meet current, intensified competition.

He noted that MediaNews called for divesting assets, ignoring that non-core or underperforming assets have already been divested.

"... MNG has never discussed, or attempted to discuss, the issues raised in their letter with Monster's management or Board. On the contrary, and in a reckless way, MNG is attempting to defeat a transaction that would provide all of you with immediate and certain cash value of $3.40 per share, representing a 22.7% premium to Monster's closing stock price on August 8, 2016, the last trading day prior to the announcement," Yates said.

Yates said, "We contend that termination of the Randstad offer would be disastrous for MWW shareholders....We concluded that our stockholders would benefit from receiving a cash premium now and entered into an agreement with Randstad. We remind you that this agreement provides that we would only be required to pay a fee of 2.7% of equity value if we terminated it in favor of a superior proposal."

On 9th August, 2016, Monster Worldwide said it agreed to be acquired by Randstad Holding nv, a Dutch human resources services provider, for $3.40 per share in cash. The total purchase price would be about $429 million in enterprise value.