EMC extends offer to buy Data Domain

Data storage company EMC Corp. said Friday that it extended its offer to buy Data Domain Inc. for $30 per share in an all-cash deal.

The offering now expires at midnight on July 10. Previously, EMC's offer, which had begun on June 2, was to expire at midnight on Monday.

EMC had said last week that it would refile notice of its offer to buy the data backup and disaster recovery systems provider to ensure federal authorities have time to review it.

Data Domain said June 15 that EMC's offer is not in the best interest of its shareholders and that it prefers a bid from data storage provider NetApp Inc.

NetApp and Data Domain had said in early June that they reached a deal for Data Domain to be bought for $1.9 billion in cash and stock. NetApp originally offered $1.5 billion, or $25 per share in cash and stock, on May 20, before EMC produced a higher offer of $30 per share.

NetApp later matched EMC's offer, and Data Domain agreed to NetApp's new offer.

EMC said about 174,645 common shares of Data Domain _ or less than half of a percent of all outstanding common shares _ had been tendered by Friday afternoon.