Analysts: Yahoo must now accept buyout bid if Microsoft raises price
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A chorus of Wall Street analysts are urging Yahoo to take the deal, now that it's clear no other buyers are really emerging. But they're also saying it's time for Microsoft to raise its original offer for Yahoo in order to make it happen.
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A major investor in Yahoo Inc   has met with Microsoft Corp  Chief Executive Steve  Ballmer to see if he would raise a $42 billion unsolicited  offer for the company, the New York Post reported on Friday.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft may end up having to raise the amount it is willing to pay for Yahoo if the software company's stock continues to drop while Yahoo's continues to rise.
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The chance that Yahoo Inc. will put itself up for sale has increased since the most-visited US website lowered its revenue forecast, according to Stanford Group. Microsoft Corp. is a candidate to buy the company, analyst Clayton Moran said.
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Yahoo's second biggest shareholder says Microsoft will have to raise its offer, if it wants to buy the internet firm.
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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'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 set to reject Microsoft  Corp.'s offer, initially worth $44.6 billion, as undervaluing  the business, a source familiar with the situation said on  Saturday.
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Microsoft Corp  said on Friday  it has offered to buy Yahoo Inc , the popular Web  portal, for $44.6 billion in cash and stock, 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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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.
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Yahoo&#39;s board of directors plans to reject&#160;Microsoft&#39;s unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid,&#160;The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing as its source &quot;a person familiar with the situation.&quot;According to the report, the source said the Yahoo board has determined that the $31-per-share offer &quot;massively&#160;undervalues&quot; the online services company. In addition, Microsoft&#39;s buyout bid doesn&#39;t take into consideration the business risks that Yahoo would be taking if it entered into an agreement that in the end might not be approved by government regulators, the source told the Journal.According to the Journal, Yahoo&#39;s board intends to send Microsoft a letter on Monday, detailing its position.A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on the report today. &quot;We are not providing details on the board&#39;s review process,&quot; she wrote. &quot;Yahoo&#39;s board is carefully and thoroughly evaluating the Microsoft proposal in the context of all of the company&#39;s strategic alternatives, and will pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.&quot;Microsoft, which announced its offer for Yahoo on Feb. 1, couldn&#39;t be reached for comment today. The offer is a combined cash-and-stock deal; in announcing the bid, Microsoft said Yahoo shareholders could choose to receive either cash or Microsoft stock, although it added that the total consideration would be equally split between the two forms of payment.Yesterday, published reports said that Yahoo&#39;s board was meeting to discuss the offer.Yahoo is still evaluating other options,&#160;including a search advertising partnership with Google, according to today&#39;s report by the Journal. It also may still be open to a longer negotiation with Microsoft: The Journal said it was told by the source that Yahoo would be unlikely to consider any offers below $40 per share.If so, that would require Microsoft to raise its original offer by at least 29 percent, or about $13 billion. In other words, the cost for Microsoft to become a more credible rival to Google in the search and online advertising markets could start at about $57.6 billion.Google has been doing what it can to scuttle the Microsoft takeover bid, including playing the antitrust card by asking, in a blog post by one of its executives last Monday, whether Microsoft might &quot;attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?&quot;Microsoft quickly shot back, issuing a statement saying that a combination of it and Yahoo merger would &quot;create a more competitive marketplace.&quot;(Eric Lai contributed to this story.)Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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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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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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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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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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Most of Yahoo Inc's top institutional shareholders may be more interested in making sure Microsoft Corp does not overpay for the Web pioneer, because they have more money invested in the bigger software maker, a research report said on Friday.
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Yahoo's board of directors on Monday rejected Microsoft's buyout offer, saying the 44.6-billion-dollar bid is too low and not what's best for shareholders of the veteran Internet company.