Where is Microsft bid for Yahoo! heading?
May 2nd, 2008 by VipulMicrosoft Corp may be running out of time with respect to it’s bid for Yahoo! if one goes by the latest developments (one may read as bonding!) between internet company with Google Inc.
Yahoo may agree to use Google’s Web advertising software within a week, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. The decision would build on an experimental program the companies ran last month.
After three months of constantly pressing Yahoo to give up looking at alternatives and agree to a deal with Microsoft, Ballmer faces a potential setback. A deal with Google may strengthen Yahoo’s sales and give it a chance of enjoy independent existence, or it may also result in pressuring Microsoft to raise its $44.6 billion bid.
Ballmer said yesterday he would walk away from the purchase before he overpays for Yahoo, the Sunnyvale, California-based owner of the second-most popular Internet search engine.
“I know exactly what I think Yahoo is worth to me, exactly,” Ballmer said in a meeting with employees, according to remarks provided by spokesman Frank Shaw. “I won’t go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it’s worth if that gets the deal done.”
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft may make a friendly deal with Yahoo, start a proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s board or abandon the bid, Ballmer said at the meeting. The company will make an announcement in “very short order,” he said.
Yahoo has repeatedly turned down the $31-a-share acquisition bid since Microsoft first made the offer Jan. 31. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, would use the takeover to bolster competition with Google, the leader in the $41 billion online advertising market.
Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s CEO, has said the offer is too low. Ballmer, who gave the company until April 26 to agree to a deal, let the deadline pass without taking action.
