In February $2005,$ Verizon Communications made an offer to buy MCI for $$6\mathrm{.}7$ billion.$$ This would represent a value per share of $$20\mathrm{.}70,$ comprised of $$6$ in cash and $$14\mathrm{.}70$ in Verizon stock $($based on current stock prices$).$ Before speculation about a possible deal, MCI stock had been trading in a range of $$16-$$$18$ per share.

Subsequent to the Verizon bid, Qwest $($another telecoms company$)$ offered to buy MCI for $$8$ billion $-$ the equivalent of $$24\mathrm{.}60$ per share.$$ Qwest offered $$9\mathrm{.}10$ in cash and $$15\mathrm{.}50$ in Qwest stock $($also based on current stock prices$).$

In reviewing the bid, the board of directors of all three companies noted that the $52$ week High$/$Low prices for Qwest stock was $$5\mathrm{.}00/$ $$2\mathrm{.}56,$ compared to a $52$ week range of $$42\mathrm{.}27/$ $$34\mathrm{.}13$ for Verizon.$$ Verizon$$s beta was $1\mathrm{.}04$; Qwest$$s beta was $2\mathrm{.}66.$ Verizon was also about six times larger than Qwest in terms of revenue; Verizon had about $10$ times the EBITDA of Qwest.

The MCI board of directors recommended that stockholders accept the Verizon bid on a purely financial basis. Assuming that there were no strategic or operational reasons for accepting the Verizon bid, why might the board make this recommendation?