MCI chooses Verizon's raised $8.5 billion deal

MCI today accepted the raised $8.5 billion bid from Verizon, while Qwest offered the company a final bid of $9.9 billion. The company states that it chose the lower bid from Verizon because they might lose customers if they chose the Qwest deal.

MCI's stable of large corporate and business customers, second only to AT&T Corp.'s, is the major motivation behind Verizon's and Qwest's efforts. Qwest also sees the opportunity to cut $14.8 billion in costs through a MCI deal, providing its best chance to reduce its $17 billion in debt and improve its weak cash flow.

The company explained that many of its large users didn't prefer the Qwest deal and that they received many requests from users to terminate their arrangements with MCI in case of a Qwest transaction. More info about the deal at Reuters