Yahoo! Up for More Negotiation with Microsoft

Who needs a television when all the drama can be found online? That’s what the Microsoft/Yahoo! debacle has been since it began, and it’s sure not losing its lustre quite yet. Over the weekend, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, withdrew the bid to acquire Yahoo!, and I doubt many would disagree that their offer was generous at $31 a share, or a 61% premium.

But now, Yahoo! looks nothing but red in the face. Chances are good that they were not planning on Microsoft dropping out, especially with the companies adamant ‘we’re not going anywhere’ attitude. But, it happened, and now Yahoo! is feeling sick to the stomach. After all, they could have been bought for well over $40B, but now they are just sitting pretty, unsure of what’s next.

Like a heart-broken teenager, Yahoo!’s CEO Jerry Yang and company have now stated that they’d be up for more negotiation with Microsoft, and that they’d be willing to go lower than the $37 per share that they demanded. AKA: We wanted more money, but didn’t expect you to jump ship so fast. All I know is that this drama contains the perfect blend of ingredients for either a hit emo song or new series on the CW.

Yahoo is getting blasted by its largest shareholder, Capital Research Global Investors, one of the most respected investment institutions on Wall Street. Gordon Crawford, a portfolio manager with the firm remarked in the WSJ article, “I’m extremely disappointed in Jerry Yang, I think he overplayed a weak hand. And I’m even more disappointed in the independent directors who were not responsive to the needs of independent shareholders.”

Source: DailyTech