As the takeover drama involving MCI, Verizon and Qwest enters its seventh week, MCI on Friday said it would restart talks with Qwest over the company's latest acquisition bid.

On Thursday, Qwest upped its offer to $9 billion, a half-million more than its previous bid and $1.4 billion more than Verizon's latest offer.

Verizon, however, plans to take its offer directly to the shareholders of MCI in an attempt to end the process, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday. But such a move may not be in Verizon's best interest, as several of MCI's large shareholders have expressed discontent over the company's offers and seem receptive to a deal with Qwest.

"I think it's an outstanding proposal. It's clearly superior to the Verizon offer," John Paulson of Paulson & Company told Reuters. According to the story, Paulson's company owns some 10.8 million shares of MCI.

Verizon made no other public comments on the latest developments Friday other than issuing a brief statement.

"Verizon has a signed agreement with MCI that we believe will deliver superior value to MCI's shareholders. At MCI's request, we have agreed that it may have discussions with Qwest about any offer Qwest presents until the MCI shareholder vote," Verizon said.

Neither MCI nor Verizon gave any indication as to when the shareholder vote may occur; however, it is likely a vote would happen within the next several weeks.