When Yahoo! signaled Microsoft that it was ready for $38/share for the sellout, many thought that the deep pockets of Microsoft would jump at the chance and there would be no backing, but Microsoft had the fingers on the pulse of Yahoo, and knew the odds.
Microsoft did the needful by knowing that if it comes out cleanly this time, a new bid would enable them to purchase Yahoo at much lesser prices. Here is the press releases by the Microsoft bigwigs.
“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,†said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft.
“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, 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,†said Ballmer.
“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. While Yahoo! would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals,†Ballmer said.
“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,†said Kevin Johnson, Microsoft president for platforms and services.
One thing is pretty much clear and that is that Microsoft is sitting ready to leap and grab Yahoo at any time from now on.
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