Microsoft, Yahoo meet, intensify talks to avert hostile takeover

Report: Microsoft, Yahoo talks intensify

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-03 08:14:36

BEIJING, May 3 (Xinhuanet) --

Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have intensified talks in a last-minute attempt to reach a friendly deal on a buyout of Yahoo, according to media report Friday.

Yahoo shares jumped more than 6 percent in late trading Friday on news of the accelerated talks.

Yahoo had previously refused to enter formal negotiations with Microsoft, saying Microsoft's initial 31-dollar-a-share offer did not properly value Yahoo's search and display advertising technology, or its overseas holdings.

Investors had feared Microsoft might walk away from its unsolicited bid, now worth 42.2 billion dollars, or launch a hostile takeover battle, as Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer told employees on Thursday that walking away from a deal with Yahoo was one of three options the company was weighing, and to expect an announcement shortly.

News of the intensified talks on Friday was first reported on the Wall Street Journal's website, quoting people with knowledge of the situation and saying that Microsoft was willing to raise its bid to as much as 33 dollars per Yahoo share.

Major Yahoo shareholders have signaled they want a price in the range of 35 to 37 dollars a share, the Journal reported.

No deal was imminent and an agreement was not likely on Friday, said the report.

Yahoo spokeswoman Diana Wong and Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw declined to comment.

(Agencies)

Microsoft, Yahoo meet to avert hostile takeover

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-03 15:39:57

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Xinhua) --

Representatives from Microsoft and Yahoo met on Friday to avert a hostile takeover, sources close to the meeting said.

The talks were confidential and were conducted in a serious atmosphere, said the sources who refused to be named.

Microsoft has expressed willingness to pay more than the 44.6 billion U.S. dollars it offered on Jan. 31, the sources were quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

Microsoft had increased its bid by "several dollars" a share. However, no deal was imminent as differences still remained, said the sources.

No further details were available.

Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment on the issue.

Yahoo shares gained 1.86 dollars, or 7 percent, to 28.67 dollars on reports that the two companies were closer to a deal, as investors hoped Yahoo would exact a higher price from Microsoft. Microsoft fell 16 cents to 29.24 dollars.

Microsoft had set April 26 as the deadline for Yahoo to respond to Microsoft's offer, or it would launch a proxy fight to take control of Yahoo's board of directors. But this week passed with no escalation of the takeover fight, which has been dragging on for three months.

Yahoo, whose board of directors met on Friday, has been trying to wring at least a few dollars more per share out of Microsoft. The negotiations might accomplish that without the distraction of a long public battle, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Yahoo had repeatedly rejected Microsoft's offer as being too low. It has also aggressively sought alternatives such as a tie-up with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit and a partnership with rival Google Inc.

Microsoft keeps silence on Yahoo deal after deadline passes

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-30 10:51:17

LOS ANGELES, April 29 (Xinhua) --

U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. Tuesday continued to keep silence on its bid to acquire Yahoo Inc., three days after the deadline Microsoft had given to the major internet search engine to come to an agreement.

There has been no word from both in the past few days on the potential deal worth some 44.6 billion U.S. dollars, as observers speculate that Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is trying anew tactic in his battle to take over the Silicon Valley company.

The two companies did not meet over the weekend and are not negotiating although the deadline set earlier by Microsoft expired Saturday, said sources close to the deal.

Microsoft has indicated it could announce its next move this week. Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell reportedly said that the company would either take its offer directly to Yahoo shareholders or walk away if Yahoo did not respond.

Now that the deadline has passed, Microsoft would have every reason to let its battle for Yahoo to turn hostile, analysts said.

Yahoo's board of directors has twice rejected Microsoft' s offer, arguing that the price undervalues the company, although the 44.6-billion-dollar offer, announced in February, was the largest acquisition effort in Microsoft's 33-year history.

Wall Street investors on Tuesday began to adjust their stock positions on fears that the deal will not be realized soon or may not happen at all. Microsoft shares slipped 1.2 percent to close at 28.64 dollars, while Yahoo was up 3.5 percent to close 27.36 dollars.

While investors believe Microsoft would not walk away from the deal, they anticipate that Yahoo shares could drop sharply if Microsoft withdraws its bid, because that would expose Yahoo to shareholder lawsuits. Yahoo's stock has jumped more than 50 percent since Microsoft made the offer.

Yahoo's board of directors "is walking on the knife's edge right now," said Anthony Sabino, a professor of law and business at St. John's University.

Microsoft could try to take control of Yahoo's board, which is up for re-election at the upcoming annual meeting, but such a move could cause the conflict to drag out for months.

Yahoo is required by law to hold its annual meeting by July 12,and nominations for the board are due 10 days after the date of the meeting is announced.

Meanwhile, industry analysts said Google would widen its lead in search advertising and internet innovation while the future of Microsoft and Yahoo remains uncertain.

Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo is seen widely as the software giant's latest attempt to challenge Google's dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets.

Google has been gaining ground on rival Yahoo, which is also under pressure from the increasing popularity of such social networking websites like Myspace and Facebook.

Editor: An Lu

Google: Deal with Yahoo is not a merger

www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-27 08:13:26

BEIJING, April 27 --

Google Inc believes regulators would not bar a potential deal with Yahoo Inc because it would be "non-exclusive" and falls short of an outright merger, claim sources familiar with Google's strategy.

Yahoo is exploring alternatives to Microsoft Corp's 42.7 billion U.S. dollars takeover offer which the Web pioneer has rejected for being too low.

The U.S. Justice Department is questioning the companies about potential competitive issues raised by a partnership, sources said last week, as Yahoo completed a two-week test of Google's system for selling ads alongside Yahoo's own Web search results.

Google believes such a partnership would not be anti-competitive because it would be an arrangement in which Yahoo would use Google's more profitable search advertising platform to make more money for itself, said a source on Friday.

A deal would be no different from partnerships Google has with other Web companies including Time Warner Inc's AOL and IAC/InterActiveCorp, the source said.

By contrast, Google thinks a takeover by Microsoft of Yahoo would raise far more anti-trust concerns because the combined company could corner large chunks of multiple markets, from Web mail to instant messaging, the source said.

Testing system

Google and Yahoo have said they cooperated with the Justice Department and told the agency about the test.

When Yahoo said two weeks ago that it had begun testing Google's AdSense system, it drew outcry from critics who see Google's domination of the market as a barrier to a deal.

Google is the top search engine and a tie-up with No. 2 search engine Yahoo would give the two companies more than 80 percent of the market, according to ratings company Hitwise.

Neither company has disclosed the results of the test, under which three percent of U.S. Yahoo searches carried advertisements using AdSense.

Yahoo President Susan Decker said last Tuesday it was "premature" to speculate on options the company might pursue with Google.

Google remains open to further discussions with Yahoo on hammering out a deal because no final decisions have been made, the source said. For its part, Microsoft claims a Yahoo-Google partnership would make the market for Web search far less competitive.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)

Editor: Du Guodong

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