Another private equity deal is crumbling. Acxiom (NASDAQ: ACXM), which was to be bought out by ValueAct Capital Partners LP and Silver Lake Partners for $2.25 billion , is now negotiating break-up fees with the firms. The private equity companies had made a $27.10 in cash offer for the data management company.

According to The Wall Street Journal "one of the issues likely to be discussed is whether the company has breached the deal's material adverse-effect clause." Operating income at the company did drop 89% in the June quarter and the company has made some lay-offs.

But, Acxiom's board may believe that one weak quarter is not material, especially if the trend of the company's business is up. At some point one of the private equity withdrawals is likely to bring a large suit both from a company and its shareholders.

Acxiom's stock holders are facing a share price that is below $20 and will probably drop further on the announcement. They may not take kindly to that.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

On the one hand, activist hedge funds are taking positions in companies and trying to get them to sell out. Then, there are hedge funds that protest when a buyout offer is too low.

It's certainly getting confusing -- but it's all very interesting.

Take the $2.25 billion buyout of Acxiom Corp. (NASDAQ: ACXM).

As I wrote in a post on BloggingStocks last week, the company was the target of activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital Partners. Now, the hedge fund has joined private equity firm Silver Lake Partners for the going-private transaction.

Well, Acxiom's second largest shareholder -- Millbrook Capital Management, which is a hedge fund -- is not too thrilled with the buyout offer and plans to challenge it. according to a filing with the SEC.

It's a serious problem. After all, Millbrook has an 8% stake. Also, it's probably a good bet that there are other agitated hedgies in Acxiom's stock.

In fact, Millbrook thinks the stock is worth more that $35 per share.

Yes, that's much better than the $27.10 offer, and Wall Street is thinking a higher bid will come to the table, as the shares closed today at $28.04.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.