Microsoft bids $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo
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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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Yahoo Inc  on Monday rejected  as too low Microsoft Corp's  unsolicited takeover  offer, currently valued at $42 billion, putting the ball back  in the software giant's court to pursue a deal.
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Yahoo remained coy on Monday as Microsoft publicly touted the virtues of its 44.6-billion-dollar bid to take over the Internet firm and Google maneuvered behind the scenes to thwart it.
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In a bid to halt Google's growing dominance online, Microsoft has offered to buy struggling Internet giant Yahoo for $44.6 billion, an acquisition that would unite the world's most influential software company with the Web's most-trafficked site.
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BOSTON/SEATTLE  - Yahoo Inc's   second-biggest shareholder urged Microsoft Corp  to  raise its $42 billion bid for the Web pioneer and warned Yahoo  it has few options other than to accept, raising pressure for  them to seal a deal.
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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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Yahoo said Monday that the board of directors, in consultation with financial and legal advisors, has concluded that Microsoft's US$44.6 billion [b] bid for the company is not in its best interests.
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Yahoo looks for alternatives to Microsoft's unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
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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.
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BOSTON/SEATTLE  - Yahoo Inc's  second-biggest shareholder urged Microsoft Corp  to raise its $42 billion bid for the Web pioneer and warned Yahoo it has few options other than to accept, raising pressure for them to seal a deal.
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One's head spins thinking about Microsoft's unsolicited bid of $44.6 billion for Yahoo. Yahoo has been a major figure in the open source world for a long time. It sponsors events, participates in countless development projects, and encourages its own engineers to do open source work. And, of course, it uses countless open source code bases as well. read more
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Microsoft offers to buy the search engine company Yahoo for $44.6bn in cash and shares.
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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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Google Inc fired back on Sunday  at Microsoft Corp's $44.6 billion bid to acquire Yahoo Inc,  accusing Microsoft of seeking to extend its computer software  monopoly deeper into the Internet realm.
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Yahooâs board decided that Microsoftâs $44.6 billion hostile bid undervalues the company, people involved said.
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Google Inc. raised the specter of Microsoft Corp. using its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader's queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up.
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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.