Microsoft Withdraws its Bid for Yahoo

by Albert Milliron | May 3, 2008 at 05:38 pm

416 views | 12 Recommendations | 5 comments

Microsoft Says It Is Withdrawing Bid for Yahoo

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Microsoft Says It Is Withdrawing Bid for Yahoo

After a three-month standoff over a deal that could have reshaped competition on the Internet, Microsoft said it was withdrawing an offer that Yahoo had repeatedly rejected.

Source Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

After all that foreplay, Microsoft is walking away from Yahoo!. It's like a Facebook breakup. So is MS really just not that into Yahoo!, or is this a ploy to get Yahoo! to fall in love with MS, playing on Yahoo!'s insecurity and self-worth issues? Junior High is such a nightmare. And so is Silicon Valley.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer formally withdrew the offer in a letter to Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang.

Mr Ballmer said Microsoft had raised its original offer from $44.6bn to $47.5bn (£24.1bn) - $33 per share.

But he added that Yahoo had insisted on at least $53bn, or $37 a share - more than Microsoft was prepared to pay.

The software giant had wanted to do a deal to be able to compete with Google, which dominates the lucrative market for internet advertising

In his letter to Mr Yang, which has been posted on the Microsoft website, Mr Ballmer said: "We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo and the market as a whole. "Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5bn, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer.

"After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal."

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Amy Judd

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 17:54 on May 3rd, 2008

politisite, I'm shocked. I didnt' think Microsoft would ever give up their offer.

at 18:58 on May 3rd, 2008

See coverage of the same story by greg1usa here.

greg1usa

at 19:00 on May 3rd, 2008

politisite, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Jordan Yerman

at 07:19 on May 4th, 2008

Albert Milliron

at 13:14 on May 4th, 2008

Good insight. Wall Street is a lot like the playground

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