Autobytel to Trilogy - Get Lost!

Autobytel's board of directors responded last week to Trilogy's attempted takeover with a letter to its shareholders saying it's not interested. (Read a previous post about Trilogy's attempt here.)

According to Autobytel, Trilogy used confidential information to put together the hostile offer. Autobytel and Trilogy had been discussing the possibility of Trilogy scoring Autobytel's leads. Needless to say, that's a deal that won't be happening anytime soon.

Trilogy had offered $0.35 to Autobytel's shareholders, or 32% over the 30-day average which the shares had been trading at. The offer amounted to more than 40% below the averge for the past year.

Trilogy also cited Autobytel's cash burn, claiming it would be out of cash sometime in 2010. Autobytel countered that claim saying the cash burn in December resulted from one time charges for severance pay for executives that had left.

Autobytel certainly has been a distressed company in recent years, but the $0.35 offer is laughable and it appears Trilogy might have over reached. It's going to a lot more than that to buy the Internet pioneer.

But the final chapter on this story hasn't been written yet. Stay tuned.