Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily

HLTH Corp., WebMD Merger Axed; Current Credit Crunch Is Culprit

October 20, 2008 at 8:01 am PT

HLTH Corp. (HLTH) and WebMD (WBMD) today terminated their merger agreement–the latest casualty of the current credit crunch.

HLTH owns an 84 percent stake in WebMD; but WebMD was to be the surviving company. Terms of the deal had called for HLTH shares to be converted into 0.1979 shares of WBMD plus $6.89 in cash.

Martin Wygod, chairman of both companies, said in a statement that “in the current economic environment, it is important for a growth company like WebMD not to be encumbered by $650 million in long-term debt that would be coming due in 18 to 36 months.”

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Tagged with: Barrons, Eric Savitz, frontpage, HLTH Corp., long-term debt, Martin Wygod, merger, Tech Trader Daily, WebMD

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