technology firegeezer on 19 May 2008 11:47 am
MicroHoo! Talks Resume
TWO WEEKS AFTER MICROSOFT WALKED AWAY from its offer to purchase Yahoo!, the two companies are saying that negotiations have resumed.
Microsoft, wishing to get into the internet advertising business, had made an offer to purchase Yahoo! at a price equal to $31 per share. Up until that time, it was trading at around $29 and slipping. Yahoo! responded by insisting that they receive $37, leading MS to just walk away saying that they’re not interested anymore.
This caused Yahoo!’s price to plummet back to $27 and that didn’t make the stockholders happy at all. A group of the company’s biggest investors then pressured the Board of Directors to reopen talks with Microsoft with the focus on selling off their advertising business outright and then maintaining their other internet interests.
Some market watchers think that the possibility still exists for a complete takeover, though. We will have to watch how this chess match plays out through this week.
Scott Moritz of Fortune Magazine has an UPDATE.
Bloomberg News has a good summary in this video report:
