Dive Brief:

• Dollar General will maintain its tender offer for Family Dollar Stores shares until Dec. 31. Dollar General presented its $80-per-share offer directly to Family Dollar shareholders, which was to expire Oct. 31. This is Dollar General's second extension of a tender offer.

• Dollar General has picked up 4 million Family Dollar shares by Oct. 30.

• A vote on Dollar Tree’s takeover bid of Family Dollar takes place Dec. 11, and Dollar General is urging shareholders to vote against it.

Dive Insight:

Dollar General has been spurned twice by Family Dollar’s board, and it hasn’t got very far taking its offer directly to Family Dollar shareholders either, at least not yet. Moving the deadline past the shareholder vote on Dollar Tree’s bid, however, might work. If shareholders reject that, they may be ready for Dollar General. It’s all something of a dollar-store melodrama.