Talks between the two sides come after Co-founder and CEO Clay Siegall resigned earlier this year as he is against the sale of the company. A Needham & Company analyst commented: "We expect the stock to trade lower on the news today, as the likelihood of a deal materializing, for which some expectation has been baked into the stock over the past 2+ months, now appears to be incrementally lower." The WSJ reported in June that Merck is aiming to acquire Seagen for roughly $40 billion. The news sent SGEN shares up about 13%.