Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!

[webman]

Zimbra, Flickr, and other funky sites owned by Yahoo! are saved from the grasp of Microsoft.

 

SEATTLE - Microsoft says it's dropping its three-month-old bid to buy Yahoo because the two sides can't agree on an acceptable sale price.

 

Microsoft abandons Yahoo bid, rebuffing higher sale price

 

"Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal," said Ballmer

 

...

 

Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Yahoo!.

 

Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!

 

Microsoft withdraws bid for Yahoo

 

What I find really funny is this quote from Steve Monkey-Man Ballmer, containing the words Microsoft and innovate in the same sentence:

 

We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.

 

[torledo]

mmm....strateic transations. I wonder if they've got an eye on another target. Although it's difficult to see who other than yahoo could allow them to compete with google.

 

If nothing else this whole exercise has kept the poor hard-up lawyers busy and improved yahoos faltering stock price.

 

But it was obvious yahoo didn't want to be bought - yahoo! shareholders will never get an offer anywhere near the $47 billion ever again let alone the $53 billion used to scare M$ off.

 

Microsofts withdrawal was lucky escape for the company.

[SYNACK]

Well it could very easily have been a ploy to up Yahoo's share price and give them more capital to stay in the running against Google. I am so glad that they did not get it though as the crazy mismanagement of both companies would have made for one big fat nightmare for us, the techs who have to clean up after their silly failures.

[torledo]

spot on synack.....mega takeovers/mergers like this very rarely work out.

 

HP/Compaq and AOL/TimeWarner are the obvious examples. Also, with regulators both in the US and EU watching every move of the takeover...it would've been an almighty headache for M$.

[Geoff]

mmm....strateic transations. I wonder if they've got an eye on another target. Although it's difficult to see who other than yahoo could allow them to compete with google

 

They could always take AOL off time warners hands.

[SYNACK]

They could always take AOL off time warners hands.

 

That generates an amusing image in my head of MS buying an anchor for a sinking ship rather than attempting to bail

[torledo]

They could always take AOL off time warnershands.

 

hahaha...yes, the most overvalued company in the history of business. Can somebody tell me what the relevance and importance of AOL is these days...

i mean they don't even have the only thing that gave them an ounce of credibility - the products they obtained from the netscape acquisition. Infact wasn't it them that put the final nails in netscapes coffin.. They're not really an IT or an internet company are they ? Just a web 1.0 abbhoration

 

oops, what i meant to say was AOL is the most overvalued company since Enron...after all people have been convicted for overvaluing Enron, whereas as far as i know noone at time warner has being imprisoned for buying AOL - altohugh maybe they should have been.

 

While they're at it, if M$ were intent on paying significantly over the odds for a relic of the dotcom boom why stop at yahoo, why not take AOL off it's owners hands by making an offer. Infact they should buy AOL and quietly bury the company after stripping it off what assets it has left. That would be evil, although very much deserved.

Edited May 4, 2008 by torledo

[Geoff]

Infact they should buy AOL and quietly bury the company after stripping it off what assets it has left.

 

I have images of Bill in a large warehouse filled with stacks and stacks of AOL CDs quietly cursing to himself.

[ICT_GUY]

MS stock price goes up? Yahoos goes through the floor?

[Diello]

Things is - the majority of Yahoo! shareholders and staff wanted it, they have no faith in Yang. Yahoo stock price down about 16% the later part of yesterday.

 

The real winners here are Google.

 

Course, this could be a ploy like any other - say you're walking away to get them to be more amenable to a takeover later on, let the stock price take a hit.

[cookie_monster]

Microsofts withdrawal was lucky escape for the company

 

For Yahoo yes but not for their board, there will be an inquiry now and they will likely be sacked as their job is to make their shareholders money and they've just turned down an offer of the sort of money they won't be seeing again. Well that is untill their share price takes a dip and MS make another 'reduced' offer to the new Yahoo board ;-)

 

 

 

Can somebody tell me what the relevance and importance of AOL is these days...

 

AOL was an overvalued dinosaur and faded into insignificance, which they deserved for the poor service they gave their customers

Edited May 6, 2008 by cookie_monster

[torledo]

read about yahoo possibly extending an advertising revenue agreeement with google this morning.

 

Don't think it's all gloom and doom for them..

 

As for microsoft, they could always make a takeover bid for the search behemoth that is search-wise.net.... as seen on eastenders

 

Compuhire - search-wise.net

 

Read the 'about us' bit, it's quite bizarre.

[torledo]

For Yahoo yes but not for their board, there will be an inquiry now and they will likely be sacked as their job is to make their shareholders money and they've just turned down an offer of the sort of money they won't be seeing again. Well that is untill their share price takes a dip and MS make another 'reduced' offer to the new Yahoo board ;-)

 

Sorry, sould have clarified that i meant it was a lucky escape for Microsoft.

 

$55 billion for yahoo was an insane valuation.

[cookie_monster]

Yeh MS must realy see adverts as the future to want to waste their war chest on Yahoo

[Geoff]

They could always take AOL off time warners hands.

 

Microsoft holds talks with Time Warner about AOL bid - Times Online

 

Steve! I was joking. Jeeze...

[Diello]

Buy AOL, a couple of other component parts, a decent content delivery network - have all the things that makes a Yahoo!, for cheaper.