IT'S OFFICIAL - MICROSOFT OFFER ON YAHOO SPURNED

15 February 2008

Bid "substantially undervalues" Yahoo, claim directors


Speculation on Microsoft's next moves is rife today (Monday) after the Yahoo board of directors formally rejected the software giant's $44.5 billion offer to purchase. The statement turning down the offer did not explain how Yahoo management will match the payoff that the slumping Internet icon's shareholders would have received had the unsolicited offer been accepted, reports Associated Press.

The rebuff had been widely anticipated after word of Yahoo's intention was leaked during the weekend (see previous InfoPowa report).

Yahoo spokesmen said its board had concluded Microsoft's unsolicited offer "substantially undervalues" the company.

Yahoo's stock price had dropped by more than 40 percent in the three months leading to Microsoft's bid, which was valued at $31 per share when it was announced February 1. The offer represented a 62 percent premium on Yahoo's market value at the time.

By rejecting Microsoft, Yahoo's board appears to betting that it will be able to extract a higher offer from the world's largest software maker, or its management team will finally be able to deliver on its repeated promises of a turnaround that has been in the works for the past 18 months.

Many analysts now believe that Microsoft will eventually raise its bid to $35 to $40 per share, sweetening the pot by $5 billion to $12 billion in an effort to negotiate an amicable sale. Alternatively, Microsoft could take its original bid directly to Yahoo's shareholders, perhaps ousting the present directors in the process.

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