Microsoft says Yahoo misrepresents latest offer

2008-07-17 23:46:27 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

LOS ANGELES, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft denied that its offer to buyout Yahoo was contingent on the removal of the Internet firm's top management and the board of directors, it was reported on Tuesday.

In a statement issued late Monday, Microsoft said Yahoo misrepresented its latest proposal, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

People walk past Yahoo! offices in Santa Monica, California, May 19, 2008. A joint proposal by Microsoft and activist investor Carl C. Icahn to buy out Yahoo has been rejected.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
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Microsoft also said it never issued a "take it or leave it" ultimatum, as Yahoo had charged, according to the report.

The dueling statements illustrate how frayed the relationship between the two companies has become as they struggle to hammer out a deal before Yahoo's annual meeting on Aug. 1. That's when shareholders will decide the outcome of a proxy battle launched by dissident shareholder Carl Icahn to take control of Yahoo and force a sale to Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Icahn has provided a detailed accounting of the deal he intends to close with Microsoft if he is successful, the report said. Icahn claimed his deal, which amounts to a partial sale of Yahoo, was worth 33 dollars a share.

Microsoft previously offered to buy all of Yahoo for 33 dollars a share but withdrew the offer after Yahoo sought more.

Under Icahn's deal, Yahoo would sell its search business to Microsoft for 7.7 billion dollars. Shareholders would receive 16.25 dollars a share in a distribution made up of cash and stock, and Yahoo would be left as a stand-alone company that provides Internet content.

Icahn said Microsoft would also guarantee 2.3 billion dollars a year in cost savings and payments to Yahoo for any search that started on a Yahoo content page. Microsoft had previously offered to guarantee only 1 billion dollars of revenue per year; however, it had also offered to pay 35 dollars a share for a 16 percent stake in Yahoo.

"Heretofore, Microsoft had been unwilling to even come close to making this guarantee," Icahn wrote in a letter to Yahoo shareholders.

Shareholder Icahn reiterates call to replace Yahoo's board 

  LOS ANGELES, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn on Monday renewed his call to replace Yahoo's board of directors to pave the way for an acquisition deal with Microsoft.

  Icahn made the call in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Yahoo revealed late Saturday that it had spurned Microsoft's latest attempt to buy its online search engine in a joint proposal made with Icahn. 

Yahoo rejects joint Icahn-Microsoft proposal 

  LOS ANGELES, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A joint proposal by Microsoft and activist investor Carl C. Icahn to buy out Yahoo has been rejected.

  In a statement issued Saturday night, Yahoo said it had rejected the proposal which was substantially similar to a previous offer that Yahoo had turned down.

Microsoft's bid to buy out Yahoo decried 

  LOS ANGELES, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Software giant Microsoft's bid to buy out Yahoo has been decried as tactics to torpedo Yahoo's business.

  Microsoft is trying to torpedo Yahoo's business and has no intent to do a deal with the Internet giant, Yahoo's Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Microsoft sets new condition for buying out Yahoo 

  LOS ANGELES, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft said on Monday that it might renew talks to buy Yahoo's search technology or the entire company only after the Yahoo board and its Chief Executive Jerry Yang were ousted.

  Microsoft said in a statement that a buyout of Yahoo would depend on whether billionaire financier Carl Icahn succeeds in ousting the Yahoo board and Yang. 
 

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