Samsung has backed out of its $26 per share bid to acquire the world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products, SanDisk, citing a lack of progress after six months of discussions between the two companies. Not surprisingly, Toshiba may have also played a part in repelling the offer.

In a letter to SanDisk’s board, Lee Yoon Woo, CEO of Samsung Electronics, explains their withdrawal followed a worst than expected operating loss announcement by SanDisk, a hurried renegotiation with Toshiba and major job losses across the organization, all of which point to a considerable increase in the target’s risk profile. SanDisk, for its part, questioned Samsung’s commitment to follow through with the transaction, suggesting they were using it as ploy to gain leverage in license renewal negotiations.

The deal would have strengthened Samsung’s position as the number one maker of flash memory chips, but could have been difficult to pull-off in part because of potential anti-trust concerns and the close co-operative relationship between rival Toshiba and SanDisk.