Verso Changes Course — Why?

Only three weeks after Verso Paper’s CEO said acquiring NewPage was the key to its future, Verso announced it no longer wants to buy its rival. Why the sudden change of heart? In a mid-August interview with The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, Verso CEO David J. Paterson said that the company’s key strategy is acquiring ailing companies “to get the cost reductions we can't get on our own.”

Verso's new tack is something of a mystery. Chip Dillon, a long-time forestry industry analyst, announced yesterday that his Vertical Research Partners is dropping coverage of Verso because the company’s future is so unclear.