In the end, cash proved a formidable foe.

Nearly two months after making a splash with plans to acquire Data Domain, NetApp has terminated the merger agreement, not willing to get into a further bidding battle with storage rival EMC.

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The final blow? EMC, which has been locked in a bidding tug-of-war to buy the coveted deduplication vendor since NetApp first went public with its plans, upped its all-cash bid by 11 percent this week in an aggressive last-ditch effort to thwart what had seemed a done deal for NetApp.

NetApp's offer was part cash, part stock and after consideration, the company decided it wasn’t going to take things to the next level.

“While NetApp’s acquisition of Data Domain would have produced benefits for customers and employees and complemented NetApp’s existing growth trajectory, we remain highly confident in our already compelling strategic plan, market opportunities, and competitive strengths,” said Dan Warmenhoven, NetApp’s chairman and CEO, in a statement released late Wednesday. “NetApp applies a disciplined approach to acquisitions, one focused intently on creating long-term value for our stockholders. We therefore cannot justify engaging in an increasingly expensive and dilutive bidding war that would diminish the deal’s strategic and financial benefits.”

NetApp received a $57 million break-up fee from Data Domain as a result of the terminated agreement.

Click here to recap the NetApp-Data Domain-EMC acquisition saga from the beginning