Oh, forget it!
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (pictured) has decided to call the whole thing off, after spending one last week trying to reach an agreement with Yahoo! top man Jerry Yang and his board of directors. The last gasp included raising the offer from $31 to $33 per share.
Ballmer had previously seemed to set a deadline of a week ago to reach a deal or face a proxy fight. This now confirmed to have been a bluff, as suggested by HEXUS.channel on Friday. We also suggested that in this case the better part of valour is discretion, and Ballmer seems to agree.
In a statement on the MS website, Ballmer said: ‘We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees.’
‘Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer,’ Ballmer continued. ‘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.
‘We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners,’ he concluded. ‘While Yahoo! would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals.’
Kevin Johnson, MS president for platforms and services, chimed in: ‘We are investing heavily in new tools and Web experiences, we have dramatically improved our search performance and advertiser satisfaction, and we will continue to build our scale through organic growth and partnerships.’
Microsoft’s initial bid was a 62 percent premium on the Yahoo! share price at the time, which jumped accordingly. That price is sure to plunge now that Microsoft has withdrawn, and the Yahoo! Board will certainly face some tough questions from shareholders.
The letter from Ballmer to Yang can be seen in its entirety on the next page.
See also: Yahoo! responds to Microsoft withdrawal
