Microsoft walks on Yahoo acquisition


Or so we're supposed to believe.


Microsoft on Saturday yanked its proposal to acquire Yahoo, saying the struggling Internet pioneer refused to budge on price despite the software giant upping its offer to nearly 50 billion dollars.

Talks aimed at resolving corporate dueling that began with Microsoft’s offer on February 1 to buy Yahoo for 31 dollars per share ended with the two firms unable to close a multi-billion-dollar gap in price expectations…

Ballmer said in a message to Jerry Yang that Microsoft did not intend to go hostile and buy the company directly from shareholders…

“Yahoo is going to have to convince the market they are worth more than they were before the Microsoft offer,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP. “They have their work cut out for them.”

“Microsoft could be rolling the dice here,” Baker said. “They could be betting Yahoo’s stock price is going to collapse and they will be able to get it for even less.”

Frankly, Van, I don’t give a damn.

There are some fairly essential reasons why my time online doesn’t start with Yahoo, anymore. And never did start with MSN. I can’t see the two combined offering me anything new and useful.

Posted: Sun - May 4, 2008 at 09:28 AM