Alibaba has say in Yahoo, Microsoft talks: source
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Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet  firm, will seek a stronger voice for its management team in  Microsoft's talks to acquire Yahoo , Alibaba's largest  shareholder, a source said on Monday.
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Yahoo Inc's  board met by  telephone on Friday and discussed strategy for getting  Microsoft Corp  to raise its $42 billion offer for the  company and the possibility of hiring Google Inc to run Yahoo's  search, the Wall Street Journal said.
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Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang sent a message to employees on Wednesday, assuring them the firm's leaders are exploring ways to avoid a takeover by software giant Microsoft.
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HONG KONG/SAN FRANCISCO  - China's largest  personal computer maker, Lenovo Group Ltd., said on Tuesday it  was in acquisition talks with a major technology company, which  a source familiar with the situation said was IBM.
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The software maker lets a few details out during an employee Web cast to discuss Yahoo bid. It's just one of many product tidbits I expect to come out as part of regulatory filings associated with the offer.
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Yahoo Inc  would consider  a business alliance with Google Inc  as one way to  rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source  familiar with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday.
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Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is in talks with Yahoo about a possible deal, according to a press report.
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China&#39;s biggest computer maker said Tuesday it is in acquisition talks with a major international technology company, a disclosure which follows reports it might buy IBM Corp.
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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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Business & money: Online search firm Yahoo, subject to takeover interest from Microsoft, tells of rival offer from News Corp
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Yahoo&#39;s Chairman Roy Bostock is leading a group of the company&#39;s board members in favor of accepting&#160;Microsoft&#39;s unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid,&#160;according to a new report.The informal group headed by Bostock also includes other board members and billionaire investor Ron Burkle, according to the report in the New York Post, which quoted unnamed sources close to the situation. Board members Eric Hippeau, a managing partner at Softbank Capital, and Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Publishing, are standing behind Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who does not want to accept Microsoft&#39;s offer.On Monday,&#160;Yahoo&#39;s board rejected Microsoft&#39;s offer,&#160;saying it undervalued the company.According to the Post, the discord revolves around Yang and his followers who are so opposed to selling the company to Microsoft that Bostock and his group fear they will act out of emotions rather than their fiduciary duty to Yahoo shareholders. Such an action could expose the board to lawsuits by shareholders.Yang sent a letter to shareholders&#160;Wednesday night, saying that Microsoft&#39;s bid substantially undervalues the company and that Yahoo is positioned to take advantage of growth in the online advertising market.Yahoo could not be reached for comment.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affililate.
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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK  - Yahoo Inc would consider  a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a  $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar  with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday.
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China&#39;s largest personal computer maker, Lenovo Group Ltd., said on Tuesday it was in acquisition talks with a major technology company, which a source familiar with the situation said was IBM.
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According to a story by The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo's board plans to send a letter to Microsoft on Monday saying that the software vendor's $44.6 billion merger offer "massively undervalues" the online services company.
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So far talks between the two revolve around technology and potential business models such as advertising-sponsored services, one of the sources said.
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Yahoo&#39;s rejection of Microsoft&#39;s acquisition bid&#160;is likely a negotiating strategy to elicit a higher offer and shouldn&#39;t be seen as an attempt to resist a deal at all costs, according to analysts.Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo has many options to improve their position in online services and advertising, and combining forces is their best bet against common rival Google, analysts said.&quot;It&#39;s part of a larger negotiation that&#39;s occurring. Clearly, Yahoo should be and is seeking a higher bid, and this is part of that process,&quot; said Clayton Moran, a financial analyst with Stanford Group.Yahoo is unlikely to find a company willing to bid as much as Microsoft for it, while Microsoft will not be able to attain its Internet goals by acquiring a company other than Yahoo. &quot;While they need to negotiate and go through the process, at the end of the day this deal will happen,&quot; Moran said.On Monday, Yahoo rejected Microsoft&#39;s bid, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft offered to pay $31 for half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. At the time of the offer, Microsoft&#39;s stock stood at $32.60 and the bid was valued at $44.6 billion, a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s stock price at the time. However, the bid&#39;s value has dropped with Microsoft&#39;s sliding stock price, which at press time was $28.10. At the same time, Yahoo&#39;s stock price has risen from a close of $19.18 on the day before the bid to $29.75 at press time.Moran predicted that Microsoft will adjust its offer so that it ends up at $35 per share, probably increasing the fixed cash portion and reducing the variable stock portion so that value is less vulnerable to Microsoft stock fluctuations. A $35-per-share offer would be a midpoint between the original bid and the $40 per share Yahoo is reportedly seeking.&quot;We continue to view a Yahoo sale to Microsoft as the most likely outcome,&quot; Citigroup financial analysts wrote in a note published Sunday after press reports over the weekend that Yahoo would reject the Microsoft bid. The rejection isn&#39;t surprising but rather is consistent with Yahoo&#39;s board job to &quot;extract maximum value&quot; for shareholders, the Citigroup analysts wrote.Yahoo has reportedly held talks with Google and AOL to explore alternatives to a Microsoft acquisition. One scenario being floated would be for Yahoo to outsource its search advertising business to Google, while another, reported Monday by The Times of London, has Yahoo and Time Warner&#39;s AOL discussing a possible merger.However, neither option would match the potential benefits of an acquisition by Microsoft, Moran said. &quot;A combined Yahoo-AOL wouldn&#39;t be particularly strong, and Yahoo&#39;s stock wouldn&#39;t react favorably to that deal,&quot; Moran said. A search partnership with Google would boost Yahoo&#39;s revenue, but it wouldn&#39;t address larger problems within the company, he said.For Moran, if Yahoo has approached AOL, it has done so probably to send a message to Microsoft that it has other options and that Microsoft has to sweeten its offer. Meanwhile, Google&#39;s intervention is probably directed at complicating and lengthening the negotiation process between Microsoft and Yahoo and thus delaying the formation of a stronger rival, Moran said.While merging with AOL is unlikely to give Yahoo the boost it needs, such a deal would probably be more palatable to Yahoo&#39;s management because Yahoo would be the strongest party in the fusion, according to industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.&quot;Yahoo sees its own demise in a Microsoft acquisition. My sense is that Yahoo&#39;s management believes that Yahoo&#39;s soul wouldn&#39;t survive as part of Microsoft,&quot; Sterling said.At this point, the situation is very complicated for both Microsoft and Yahoo. If Yahoo is intent on fending off Microsoft&#39;s advances at all costs, Microsoft could opt to walk away empty-handed and face a public embarrassment, or attempt a hostile takeover, which could alienate and scare away Yahoo employees it would want to retain, Sterling said.At the same time, Yahoo can&#39;t simply wave away a generous Microsoft offer if it doesn&#39;t have an alternative to it, Sterling said. &quot;There is a great deal at stake for both sides, and it&#39;s very complicated,&quot; he said.Microsoft declined to comment about Yahoo&#39;s rejection. AOL didn&#39;t immediately reply to a request for comment about its reported merger talks with Yahoo.
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AOL has held talks with Yahoo about a possible deal to fend off an approach from Microsoft, a report says.