For people day trading I would agree with you that Cliff's offer in the short term was better than the NOT deal as people would have benefited from Cliff's run up since the deal and now would have the opportunity to buy NOT at these low prices (not saying people would put the proceeds from selling Cliffs into Not, just saying that people would be that much further ahead financially had they taken this route -at this point with hindsight 20/20 wish I had).

However for many shareholders that invest, I don't see Cliffs getting a 3, 4 or 5 bagger from their valuation from the time of the deal, it is quite possible that I'm way off base here. If NOT is taken out I don't believe it will be for less than at least three times its current value. I personally can't see Cliffs being bought out by Xtrata for $150 (I believe they were in the $50 dollar range at the time of the FWR deal).

The other potential challenge in having Cliffs shares (for the long term) is that by the time the area is consolidated (1-3 years??), it is possible that the US dollar will have lost additional value to the CAN dollar which would reduce potential gains (I believe someone else not too long ago also mentioned this). Without looking back at the exchange rate at the time, I believe the CAN $ has appreciated approx. 5%, not a lot, but perhaps its a sign of things to come.

So I respectfully disagree (at least from a long term investment perspective) that the Cliffs deal was much better. And this is not considering the appreciation in share value that NOT shares would have experienced had they been successful in their attempt to merge with FWR or the appreciation of Cliffs shares as a result of the FWR added value.....

regards,

pymmer