Microsoft bids $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Microsoft Corp   made a bid to buy Yahoo Inc  for $44.6 billion, seeking  to join forces against Google Inc  in what would be the  biggest Internet deal since the Time Warner- AOL merger.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Inc. spurned Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid as inadequate Monday without explaining how its management will match the payoff that the slumping Internet icon's shareholders would have received had the unsolicited offer been accepted.
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Microsoft Corp. has offered to buy struggling internet search provider Yahoo for $44.6 billion, a merger that would combine two of the technology world's most well-known names into a potentially potent competitor for Google in the lucrative Web search and advertising market.
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Microsoft Corp   offered to buy Yahoo Inc  for $44.6 billion, in a bold  bid to transform two ailing Internet businesses into a worthy  competitor for market leader Google Inc .
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SEATTLE/NEW YORK  - Yahoo Inc rejected Microsoft Corp's unsolicited $41.6 billion takeover offer as too low on Monday, forcing the software maker to either sweeten the bid or adopt a hostile approach to clinch a deal.
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Fearful that software giant plans to "steal" company The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the board at Yahoo plans to reject Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover offer.â¦
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Yahoo Inc's board of directors is to meet on Friday to discuss Microsoft Corp's $44.6 billion buyout offer, the TechCrunch blog said, citing unnamed sources.
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Yahoo Inc is in talks on  a possible deal with News Corp, but analysts said an  alternative was unlikely to emerge to rival Microsoft Corp's  bid for Yahoo, now valued at $42.1 billion.
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Microsoft said&#160;its $44.6 billion offer to purchase Yahoo&#160;is &quot;fair&quot; and hinted that it may pursue a hostile takeover of the Internet company, according to a statement Microsoft made Monday in response to&#160;Yahoo&#39;s formal rejection of its buyout offer.In a statement, Microsoft said it&#39;s &quot;unfortunate&quot; that Yahoo &quot;has not embraced&quot; its proposal to combine the two companies, and the rejection of the offer &quot;does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal.&quot;The company also hinted that it may take the offer directly to Yahoo&#39;s shareholders, a move that could result in a hostile takeover.&quot;As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo&#39;s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal,&quot; Microsoft said in its statement.Earlier Monday, Yahoo formally rejected Microsoft&#39;s bid to acquire the company in a half-stock/half-cash purchase, saying it undervalued Yahoo.On Feb. 1, Microsoft offered to pay $31 per share for half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares in cash -- about $22.3 billion -- and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. Microsoft&#39;s half-cash/half-stock offer to Yahoo was valued at about $44.6 billion at the time it was made; Yahoo&#39;s share price was $19.18 at the time.However, since then Microsoft&#39;s stock has gone down while Yahoo&#39;s has risen, making the deal, under its current terms, worth less than when it was originally offered. This led to speculation that Yahoo might look for other suitors; the company is reportedly looking for about $40 per share. Yahoo&#39;s share price closed at $29.87 Monday; Microsoft&#39;s closed at $28.21.Some have speculated that Microsoft would raise its offer to the company to about $35 per share -- about midway between its original offer and Yahoo&#39;s target price -- but in its statement on Monday, the company seemed adamant about keeping the offer as it stands.&quot;We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company,&quot; Microsoft said. &quot;Based on conversations with stakeholders of both companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties.&quot;Microsoft&#39;s offer to purchase Yahoo is an attempt to join forces and improve both companies&#39; positions against Google in online advertising and services. However, many questioned both the logistical complexity and cultural differences involved in combining the companies, and there are fears that it will thwart rather than help their efforts to compete with Google.Yahoo is reportedly in talks with both AOL and Google to try to avoid being acquired by Microsoft. Analysts said Monday that Yahoo&#39;s initial rejection of the offer is more of an attempt to elicit a higher bid -- either from Microsoft or another company. If none comes, the company might decide in the future to accept Microsoft&#39;s offer as it stands, they said.
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Yahoo Inc.'s board will reject Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid after concluding the unsolicited offer undervalues the slumping Internet pioneer, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday.
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Software giant Microsoft urged Yahoo to accept its "generous" 44.6 billion dollar takeover offer, adding it hoped to get a quick response from the major Internet player.
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Yahoo Inc's board believes Microsoft Corp's unsolicited bid of $44.6 billion to acquire Yahoo "massively undervalues" the company and directors are set to reject the offer, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed source.
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Microsoft Friday unveiled a hostile bid of 44.6 billion dollars for Yahoo in an effort to merge the world's biggest software company with a major Internet player to take on the Google juggernaut.
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Yahoo Inc.'s board has concluded Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid undervalues the slumping Internet pioneer and plans to reject the unsolicited offer, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday.
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Microsoft Corp. offered to buy search engine operator Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in cash and stock in a move to boost its competitive edge in the online services market.
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Microsoft Corp  said on Monday  that its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo Inc   was generous and it expects Yahoo's board and shareholders to  agree to the buyout quickly.
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Confirming&#160;weekend rumors, Yahoo rejected on Monday&#160;Microsoft&#39;s $44.6 billion cash-and-stock offer, saying the unsolicited proposal substantially undervalues the company.In a statement, Yahoo said that its management team, along with financial and legal advisors, believe the offer doesn&#39;t reflect cash flow, earnings potential, or recent investments in its advertising platform.Further, Yahoo said its board would continue to&#160;evaluate other &quot;strategic options.&quot;&#160;[&#160;See related Special Report:&#160;Microsoft makes bid for Yahoo&#160;| Blog:&#160;&#160;Yahoo + Microsoft: What&#39;s love got to do with it?&#160; ]&quot;We remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders,&quot; the statement said.Microsoft offered $31 per share on Feb. 1, which was a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s closing price the day before. Since then,&#160;Yahoo&#39;s stock has risen in value&#160;and was trading just above $29 on Monday morning.Yahoo&#39;s executives were rumored to have been searching for a buyer other than Microsoft. However, no buyer has emerged. Yahoo&#39;s latest moves mean that Microsoft may have make a more generous offer, or pursue a hostile takeover.Microsoft said it believes the acquisition of Yahoo would give it the engineering talent and resources to compete better with Google. While Microsoft and Yahoo have had some success with display advertising, Google has built a fortune on contextual text ads that appear during a search.