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Microsoft CEO willing to walk away from Yahoo bid

Microsoft CEO willing to walk away from Yahoo bid

Postby Grav!ty » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:43 am

Microsoft CEO willing to walk away from Yahoo bid

Wed Apr 23
By Ian Simpson


SAN DONATO MILANESE, Italy (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is prepared to walk away from its $43.6 billion bid for Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) if the two sides can't agree on a price, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a technology conference near Milan, Ballmer said Yahoo's better-than-expected first-quarter results, reported on Tuesday, have not changed Microsoft's view of Yahoo's value.

Microsoft sees Yahoo as a way to compete with arch-rival Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in the Internet search and advertising arena, but it has limits to what it is willing to pay to get a deal done.

"We're prepared to move forward without a merger with Yahoo," Ballmer said. "We think the best way to move forward quickly (and gain critical mass against Google) is to come together with Yahoo."

"Hopefully that works. But if it doesn't, we go forward," he said. "Time is money. We made (that) clear in the last letter we sent."

In that letter, Ballmer set a Saturday deadline for Yahoo's board to accept a deal with Microsoft or face a lower bid that Microsoft would take directly to Yahoo's shareholders. Yahoo's board of directors has said Microsoft's cash-and-stock offer significantly undervalues the company.

Analysts downplayed the possibility of Microsoft walking away from the deal.


More at: Reuters
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Postby Grav!ty » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:47 am

I wonder if Microhoo is ever going to happen. In one breath MS says they are happy walk away from the bid and in the next they are taking their deal directly to shareholders at a lower price. It seems clear Yahoo aren't all that interested in being swallowed up, otherwise there'd be a deal by now I think.
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Postby NT50 » Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:19 am

I agree Graham
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Postby Grav!ty » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:42 am

Microsoft issues final threat to scotch Yahoo deal

Thu Apr 24, 2008
By Eric Auchard and Daisuke Wakabayashi


SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp gave Yahoo Inc no hope of a higher takeover price, saying it was ready to go hostile or even call off its bid if Yahoo maintains "unrealistic expectations" of a better deal.

"Speed is of the essence for the deal to make sense," Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said on a conference call on Thursday. If no deal is reached by this weekend, Microsoft will reconsider its offer and reveal new plans next week, he said.

"Unfortunately, the transaction has been anything but speedy and has been characterized by what would appear to be unrealistic expectations of value," he said of Yahoo's moves to frustrate Microsoft's unsolicited merger proposition.

Microsoft sees Yahoo as a way to compete with arch-rival Google Inc in the Internet search and advertising arena, but company executives have repeatedly said they have limits to what they are willing to pay to get a deal done.

"We have yet to see tangible evidence that our bid substantially undervalues the company," Liddell said, referring to Yahoo. "In fact, we see the opposite."

Liddell reiterated a threat Microsoft made three weeks ago to Yahoo's board of directors that it would consider cutting its bid, now worth about $44 billion, and take its case to Yahoo shareholders if a deal is not reached by this Saturday.


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