Microsoft to Yahoo: Make deal or face proxy fight

April 7, 2008, 08:40 AM —  IDG News Service — 

Microsoft Saturday threatened Yahoo's board of directors with a proxy battle
if it won't agree to a buy-out in the next three weeks.

Breaking nearly two months of silence since Yahoo's board rejected Microsoft's
US$44.6 billion bid, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer sent an open letter Saturday
to Yahoo saying it is prepared to take its offer directly to shareholders.

In blunt and harsh language, Ballmer reiterated Microsoft's opinion that its
offer was "generous" and said the company had expected that a deal
would be struck swiftly. "Despite this, the pace of the last two months
has been anything but speedy," he wrote.

Ballmer also threatened to lower the price of Microsoft's offer if it is forced
to mount a proxy battle.

"If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that
action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our
perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal," he wrote.

Since it rejected Microsoft's offer Feb. 11, claiming it was too low, Yahoo
has been holding out for a better offer from another company or the opportunity
to strike up a partnership that would save it from agreeing to Microsoft's bid.
However, Yahoo has so far been unable to negotiate another deal.

Ballmer used this leverage in the letter, telling Yahoo that Microsoft's offer
is "the only alternative" to give its shareholders a fair return on
their investment and input into the future of the company.

"By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even
more significant today," Ballmer said. "We believe that the majority
of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public
disclosures relating to your future prospects."

He also accused Yahoo's executives of being unwilling to negotiate with Microsoft,
and said Yahoo's stalling is wasting valuable time the combined company could
be using to be more competitive in the Internet business.

Related reading:

- Yahoo
again rebuffs Microsoft in letter


- Yahoo
to Microsoft: Cheapskate


- Report:
Microsoft, Yahoo enter tentative discussions


- Ballmer
grilled on Yahoo deal in quirky Q&A


- Ozzie:
Microsoft needs Yahoo for Web, advertising plan

IDG News Service

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough

pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients

Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process

mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes

David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features

sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake                        

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words

 

Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace