The New York Times reported yesterday that Dollar Thrifty took itself off the market after more than a year of negotiations with potential purchasers. In August, Dollar Thrifty asked bidders to submit their “best and final offers.” Avis withdrew from the process in mid-September leaving Hertz as the final suitor. Dollar Thrifty’s CEO, Scott Thompson, said Hertz had “not made a proposal that addresses our board’s requirements.”
This is a great example of the importance of evaluating your and your counterpart’s Plan Bs (what will happen to both sides if you don’t do a deal with your counterpart) because it tells you when to walk and when to sign.
If your best Plan B is better than the deal on the table at the end of the day, don’t take the deal on the table. And if the deal on the table is better than your best Plan B, take it.
Here, we can assume Dollar Thrifty evaluated the deal on the table – accepting Hertz’s “best and final offer” – and decided that walking away was its best course of action.