Read my lips: no new Yahoo bid, says Microsoft's Ballmer

By Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 November 2008 02:25

Strategy

The pending departure of Jerry Yang from the CEO's chair at Yahoo! brought fresh speculation that Microsoft could launch a fresh bid for the company. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has hosed that one down.

In February 2008, Microsoft launched a $US44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo!. The offer of $US31 per share represented a 62 percent premium on the previous closing price.

The bid failed to gain the support of the Yahoo! board, but associated machinations resulted in Carl Icahn joining the board after he threatened a proxy battle to elect a pro-takeover board.

Eventually, Microsoft walked away from the deal, while leaving open the possibility of buying Yahoo!'s search business.

In the succeeding months, the financial crisis hit and Yahoo's share price plunged spectacularly. Irate shareholders were understandably miffed that the Yahoo board walked away from what in retrospect was a very generous take-over offer from Microsoft.

The stock closed at $US9.14 on November 19.

Yang was one of the strongest opponents of the Microsoft proposal, so when he announced his decision to step down as CEO speculation was rife that Microsoft would made a fresh bid for Yahoo!.

But exactly what did Ballmer have to say about that? See page 2.