Microsoft Gives Yahoo Deadline on Offer

[Gigacore]

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft set the clock ticking for Yahoo to accept its $41 billion buyout offer in a letter to the Internet pioneer's board Saturday, warning that if a deal wasn't reached by April 26 the software maker would launch a hostile takeover at a less attractive price.


"If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo board," wrote Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.


"If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal," he wrote.
A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment Saturday.

Moooooore....

[New]

This is not fair, M.S!

[legolas]

all is fair in an unfair world!!

[naveen_reloaded]

Ms has some idea...but why are they pushing so much?

Hope yahoo doesnt sell it to google...which will make ms in a check mate...

[Abhishek Dwivedi]

wasnt expcting this....

But what Microsoft is best at is DOING BUSSINESS

[iMav]

arcelor - mittal was the same

[dreamcatcher]

naah..MS will go to to the shareholders and doom itself there..google will already start collecting yahoo shares and then we will have a yahoo,ms and google ka joint venture.

a new search engine

gooyasoft or yagoosoft or microyagoo

[gxsaurav]

Bad move from MS, bad bad MS,.....I don't want yahoo to be taken over by MS

[BBThumbHealer]

All that matters is money... Microsoft's having that !

[praka123]

Embrace, extend and extinguish

[narangz]

^^Informative link

[DigitalDude]

this is the only way for saving yahoo.... or else yahoo is going to die

lets see how pathetic is the first quarter earnings report of yahoo...

most probably shareholders will put pressure on the board if the MS bid increases.... other than that yahoo could do nothing...

and google doesnt have the cash to buy yahoo and also there will be monopoly issues for google if it buys yahoo



_

[Faun]

saam daam dand bhedh

[iChaitanya]

Maybe yahoo is not interested in this deal. They want a 'good' deal!

[Netjunkie]

Yahoo! Replies To Microsoft's Ultimatum

Read More Here

[DigitalDude]

^^^

hahaha yahoo is greedy


_

[mail2and]

Originally Posted by iMav

arcelor - mittal was the same

No. It was quite different. Plus, the market conditions back then were way different to those that are prevalent now. It's a very interesting deal to track, though. It'll be interesting to see Microsoft take debt on their balance sheet. It's one of the companies that has had so much of internal resources in the past that it never has had to take on any debt.

Anyways, I hope this deal doesn't go through. I wouldn't want to be uploading photos to Flickr Live or checking my emails on Yahoo Live Mail.

Originally Posted by DigitalDude

this is the only way for saving yahoo.... or else yahoo is going to die

lets see how pathetic is the first quarter earnings report of yahoo...


and google doesnt have the cash to buy yahoo and also there will be monopoly issues for google if it buys yahoo

A company doesn't need cash to buy another one. Ever heard of debt financing?

Also, you're one brave person to predict the death of a company. Brave isn't necessarily smart on all occasions, though.

Originally Posted by DigitalDude

^^^

hahaha yahoo is greedy

If I tell you that I'll pay you 100 rupees for your computer worth 130 rupees, and if you ask me for 120 rupees, would you be greedy?

[DigitalDude]

Originally Posted by mail2and

A company doesn't need cash to buy another one. Ever heard of debt financing?

Oh! so you would advice google to use debt financing to buy a company of Yahoo's size? gr8.. now you are the one who is brave.

on the other hand MS might partly do it.. though they have the cash...

btw even if goog had the cash it wont make any move, bcos of the obvious monopoly issues (which even popped up in their doubleclick deal).

Originally Posted by mail2and

Also, you're one brave person to predict the death of a company. Brave isn't necessarily smart on all occasions, though.

You dont need to be brave to predict the death of a company. A little common sense, familiarity with market situations, and the attitude of the company put together gives you various clues.

and sorry I'm not brave or smart enough to comment when or whether being brave and smart is mutually exclusive.

btw I'm no economist, so I can be rather crude in my predictions as it is not going to have any effect.

Originally Posted by mail2and

If I tell you that I'll pay you 100 rupees for your computer worth 130 rupees, and if you ask me for 120 rupees, would you be greedy?

No.

But If I tell you that I'll pay you 100 rupees for your computer (which no other person is interested in buying) worth 105 rupees, and if you ask me for 120 rupees, then you are greedy.

IMO yahoo is just haggling and seeing if MS would raise its bid.. but it cannot last long.. yahoo's share price is pointing towards south but not as steep as MS expected it to when they sent the second letter...


p.s. personally I would like to see the deal getting through so that there might be some real alternative to adsense
but I love my yahoo mail though I'm completely moving to gmail now


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[mail2and]

Originally Posted by DigitalDude

Oh! so you would advice google to use debt financing to buy a company of Yahoo's size? gr8.. now you are the one who is brave.

Ever heard of Leveraged Buyouts?

As you correctly said, Google can't take over Yahoo but that's just because of regulatory restrictions. The Yahoo-Microsoft deal an immensely interesting takeover bid. I love tracking it.

You dont need to be brave to predict the death of a company. A little common sense, familiarity with market situations, and the attitude of the company put together gives you various clues.

Could anyone predict the run on Northern Rock, or the fall of Bear Stearns?

But If I tell you that I'll pay you 100 rupees for your computer (which no other person is interested in buying) worth 105 rupees, and if you ask me for 120 rupees, then you are greedy.

IMO yahoo is just haggling and seeing if MS would raise its bid.. but it cannot last long.. yahoo's share price is pointing towards south but not as steep as MS expected it to when they sent the second letter...

Welcome to the world of valuations. Valuations are often done using various techniques, the most common being DCF analysis with a combination of Comps. I'd have loved to link you to my lecture slides instead of Wikipedia, but I'm not allowed to do that. Anyways, often, a company launching a hostile bid isn't or can't be sure of the Future Cash Flows of the company it intends to take over. So, they estimate these FCFs on the basis of market information and whatever insider information they can gather. In a friendly sale/merger, the situation is different. But, I'm sure Yahoo wouldn't have released information on its R&D program, which can have a significant effect on its future cash flows. So, while a 30% premium on the stock price might seem enough in the eyes of Microsoft and its bankers, the same might not be the case with Yahoo. They rejected this offer primarily on the basis of strategic concerns, but valuations played their part too.


Stock prices can be deceptive my friend. Very deceptive.

Whatever happens, there will be some nice bonuses for folks at Blackstone (oooo.. Private Equity!) and Morgan Stanley (MS advising MS) who're advising Microsoft; and at Lehman (I swear, don't they need their commission!) and Goldman who're advising Yahoo.

Though with Goldman advising them, I'd give Yahoo a good chance to get out of this situation.

[DigitalDude]

I should not have tread into the world of finance mergers and acquisitions

I know nought. *seriously reconsiders decision to do an MBA*

Originally Posted by mail2and

Whatever happens, there will be some nice bonuses for folks at Blackstone (oooo.. Private Equity!) and Morgan Stanley (MS advising MS) who're advising Microsoft; and at Lehman (I swear, don't they need their commission!) and Goldman who're advising Yahoo.

as with the case with lawyers when theres a big corp lawsuit

p.s. I swear I read "Goldman who're" as "Goldman wh0re"


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[ax3]

micro giving the DHAM-KIS .... & yahoo ppl dont like THE DHAM-KIS .....

micro is THE RULER ....