Will Microsoft claim Yahoo! (?)

[hanselthecaretaker]

Ballmer sets deadline for Yahoo to accept deal

35 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) has three weeks to accept Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) $31 per share cash-and-stock offer or Microsoft will mount a proxy battle to win investor support for the takeover, Microsoft said on Saturday.
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Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a letter dated April 5 and addressed to Yahoo's board of directors that "now is the time" to negotiate final terms of a deal, one which would mark the biggest takeover yet in the high-tech industry.

"If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors," Ballmer wrote.

A Yahoo spokeswoman was not aware of the letter and would not immediately comment on Yahoo's reaction to the move.

Ballmer said Microsoft is growing impatient more than two months after the Redmond, Washington-based software behemoth made its unsolicited takeover offer for Yahoo. At that time, the bid represented a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's share price.

"While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement," Ballmer wrote.

The Microsoft letter argues that the economy and the market for Internet stocks have deteriorated in the intervening period, and that Yahoo's share of Web search and online advertising business has declined, referring to industry market reports.

"During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably," Ballmer wrote.

Meanwhile, Yahoo has adopted measures that make a merger with Microsoft more costly, Ballmer complained.

(Reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco and Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle, editing by Philip Barbara)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080405/tc_nm/yahoo_microsoft_dc

 

[Razorguns]

"The Microsoft letter argues that the economy and the market for Internet stocks have deteriorated in the intervening period, and that Yahoo's share of Web search and online advertising business has declined, referring to industry market reports."

Then WHY are they buying it for so many BILLIONS.

lol.

Must be other reason.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because Microsoft has ZERO influence and presence on the internet. And with Apple and Google putting MS at risk at every corner - MS really needs to get back into the 'internet' game. Bad enough they couldn't buy myspace or facebook when they had the chance.

Vista is turning into a complete disaster. Corporate America, their usual biggest customer, is refusing to upgrade! MS really is in trouble, and if Apple ever took over the consumer or corporate market - they're dead.

r

 

[Raptorex]

Exhibit A.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.aspx?symbol=msft&CP=0&PT=10

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

"The Microsoft letter argues that the economy and the market for Internet stocks have deteriorated in the intervening period, and that Yahoo's share of Web search and online advertising business has declined, referring to industry market reports."

Then WHY are they buying it for so many BILLIONS.

lol.

Must be other reason.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because Microsoft has ZERO influence and presence on the internet. And with Apple and Google putting MS at risk at every corner - MS really needs to get back into the 'internet' game. Bad enough they couldn't buy myspace or facebook when they had the chance.

Vista is turning into a complete disaster. Corporate America, their usual biggest customer, is refusing to upgrade! MS really is in trouble, and if Apple ever took over the consumer or corporate market - they're dead.

r

I agree that they fucked up with Vista's development, quality control, deployment, etc.
Although it's hard to imagine a giant like Microsoft getting dethroned by anyone, including Apple. Hell, Apple executes some pretty tyrannical business practices themselves for only having a fraction of the marketshare MS has.
Want to upgrade/build a PC? Sorry, move along. Want developer freedom? Sorry, move along. Want to keep your mp3's after you've had them in itunes and later want to uninstall the program? *snicker snicker*.

But supposedly they're the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[the_alcatraz]

What happened with trying to purchase facebook?

 

[Razorguns]

MS's dominance in the computing world is SEVERLY threatened. Esp within the next 20 years. And with Google having whiteplans for a PC running on Linux, designed for home use, with an apple style UI - it is seriously scaring them.

They are desperate for having some internet influence. And the fact that they put down yahoo, and demand to buy them in the SAME paragraph! - is showing their desperation.

Read an article today. 6% of pc's in the business world are running Vista. OUCH.

MS's dominance is waving. Thank god. I've had enough of their crappy bloated software over the years.

r

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

"The Microsoft letter argues that the economy and the market for Internet stocks have deteriorated in the intervening period, and that Yahoo's share of Web search and online advertising business has declined, referring to industry market reports."

Then WHY are they buying it for so many BILLIONS.

lol.

Must be other reason.

Oh, I don't know. Maybe because Microsoft has ZERO influence and presence on the internet. And with Apple and Google putting MS at risk at every corner - MS really needs to get back into the 'internet' game. Bad enough they couldn't buy myspace or facebook when they had the chance.

Vista is turning into a complete disaster. Corporate America, their usual biggest customer, is refusing to upgrade! MS really is in trouble, and if Apple ever took over the consumer or corporate market - they're dead.

r

Isn't Adobe developing a 64 version of the next Photoshop specifically for Vista? I thought they've always been partial to Apple.

 

[Razorguns]

Isn't Adobe developing a 64 version of the next Photoshop specifically for Vista? I thought they've always been partial to Apple.

Not sure. But the demand for 64-bit Vista Adobe products is not really that high. Anyone who does it professionally for a living, just buys a Mac anyways. So if I started doing my Visual FX work for a living, it would behove me to just upgrade to a Mac instead of fighting an uphill battle with MS OS's.

r