14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is still wooing Yahoo with the $44.6 billion offer still on the table. From the get-go, as it went live with its unsolicited acquisition bid of $31 per share for Yahoo on February 1, 2008, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said that a negative answer from the Sunnyvale Internet giant will not cause the Redmond company to step down. After almost two years of failed private negotiations between the two companies Yahoo's answer was rather clear, even of the Board of Directors with CEO Jerry Yang at the helm stated that it would carefully evaluate the acquisition proposal.
At the end of the past week, Jean-Philippe Courtois President, Microsoft International, Senior Vice President, was quoted saying that "We continue to have a very close dialog with Yahoo's shareholders and Yahoo's management. "We simply hope for what we think is a very nice merger in terms of economies of scale, research and development, innovation, data centers... and to play a major role in the world," Courtois said to AFP.
Present at CeBIT, the biggest technology show in Europe, Ballmer confirmed that discussions with Yahoo are still live, and that Microsoft aims to erode the No into a Yes. Of course that at this point nothing changes. Microsoft has a range of options from upping the stakes to initiating a proxy fight in order to replace Yahoo's Board of Directors, but it has failed to take any clear steps.
"We still think the deal makes sense with the price and structure that we announced and we hope that over time that becomes a reality and we're working towards that," Steve Ballmer revealed during a news conference on Monday, according to Silicon Alley Insider. "There's been a range of dialog and there's a range of alternatives being considered. I think it's best for me not to get into the detail."