Microsoft steps away from Yahoo bid, but the courtship continues
While we at Shiny were taking our Bank Holiday Monday, donning flip-flops and sipping cocktails in the balmy May weather, Microsoft and Yahoo had a bit more of a stressful weekend. As promised, Microsoft came to a conclusion about its bid to buy out the company and decided to give up and walk away from the 3-month long negotiations.
Microsoft’s final bid was $33 per share, while Yahoo was holding out for $37 per share. As a result of Microsoft’s exit – announced in a letter from Steve Ballmer to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang – Yahoo share prices plunged by 15%.
Clearly an upset for shareholders, however, some analysts are saying that they expected a more extreme reaction to Microsoft’s withdrawal. With no other Yahoo suitors in sight, is Microsoft just pretending to walk away to make Yahoo sweat?
Somehow this doesn’t feel like the end of the Micrahoosoft saga and apparently Jerry Yang isn’t quite ready to give up on the whole deal yet either. On Monday he made sure to let Microsoft know that if it can still come up with a decent price, he’s still interested.
More news as we get it.
Yahoo (via CNET)
Related posts: Waters begin to get murky in takeover proceedings | Meanwhile Microsoft envisions a Live Search that’s even more shit than ever
