(Reuters) - Nordstrom Inc said on Tuesday it ended discussions with its founding family over taking the U.S. department store operator private after failing to agree on an acceptable price.

Earlier this month, a special committee of the company's independent directors rejected an offer worth about $8.4 billion made by the members of the Nordstrom family.

The company had then said the committee planned to terminate discussions unless the price offered was "substantially" improved.

Nordstrom formed the committee to review the bid given the family's 31 percent stake in the company.

The company's shares were down 2.7 percent at $48.02 in extended trade on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)