Shamrock Ads Hit Polaroid Management
Shamrock Holdings Inc. turned up the pressure Wednesday in its battle to acquire Polaroid Corp., charging in newspaper ads that the instant camera giant is fanning “fear and concern” among employees.
The full-page advertisements in two Boston papers follow a sharply worded exchange between the presidents of the two companies over Polaroid’s rejection of Shamrock’s request to meet with employees about its $42-a-share tender offer.
Separately, the parties squared off in federal court in Delaware over Polaroid’s lawsuit seeking to block Shamrock from acquiring additional shares in the company that introduced instant snapshots in 1948.
Shamrock, a Burbank-based television and radio concern owned by the Roy E. Disney family, was rebuffed in its initial unsolicited bid. Shamrock last month raised the bid and launched a tender offer, which values Polaroid at $2.6 billion.
Its latest offensive came in ads titled “Why Is Polaroid’s President Afraid to Allow Shamrock to Meet With Polaroid Employees?” in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.
The ads appeared a day after Polaroid President I. MacAllister Booth rebuffed a request by his Shamrock counterpart, Stanley Gold, to meet with Polaroid employees.
