Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Nearing Expiration Date, Shareholders Pissed
Shareholders of Microsoft are calling on the company to just stop messing around with this Yahoo thing already. With a falling stock price (-3.5%) on the Nasdaq and nearly three months of rejection – enough to drive anyone insane – everyone is clamoring for someone to just "get the deal done." (via Bloomberg)
The buyout figure is still hovering at $31/share ($44.6 billion in total) and they have til Saturday deadline to decide. And if they don’t? Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer says that "the company could do anything from lowering its bid to attempting to wrest
control of the board," reports Mediapost.
The plot thickens. Yahoo has been dabbling with Google in the search market. Yang’s Number 2, Susan Decker, has dropped hint that Yahoo! is “exploring options” relating to a Google partnership. Hello? Antitrust? Though, would a MicroHoo be any better?
The Economist writes:
If the intention of such a deal is to make Microsoft increase its offer, it is likely to fail….[and] that leaves Yahoo! with one other option, long discussed but never
quite achieved: to strike a deal with Time Warner, a media giant, to
combine its web portal, AOL, with Yahoo!.
Both websites are big in web-mail, instant messaging and display
advertising. But they would never be as nimble as Google is already, or
as Microsoft wants to become with Yahoo!. After almost three months of
fighting Microsoft’s offer, Mr Yang has yet to propose a genuine
alternative. With every passing day he becomes more likely to be forced
into a deal—or forced out altogether.
Sounds serious. How long do you think they can hold out?
