Microsoft to Yahoo!: it's all over now

Stephen Withers
Friday, 13 June 2008 03:30

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Earlier this week, Yahoo! chairman Roy Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang wrote to shareholders urging them to re-elect the present board at the August 1 annual meeting.

In mid-May, billionaire investor Carl Icahn put forward a slate of replacement directors, claiming the present board had acted irrationally by rejecting Microsoft's advances.

Bostock and Yang wrote "Mr. Icahn has no credible plan except to sell the company to Microsoft - despite the fact that Microsoft has publicly indicated that it has no current interest in such a transaction. Given Microsoft's stated position of not wanting to acquire Yahoo!, the election of Mr. Icahn's slate could result in substantial erosion of stockholder value."

In February, Microsoft made a $US31 per share bid for Yahoo that was rejected by the Google board.

Microsoft then threatened a proxy battle if the deal did not go ahead, but the Yahoo! board stood its ground.

Microsoft did not carry through with its threat and instead withdrew its bid in May, with CEO Steve Ballmer saying Yahoo!'s asking price of $US37 was too high.

Unless Icahn and his associates are elected, it seems Yahoo! will continue on its present course as an integrated, stand-alone company.