Source: Yahoo in informal talks with Microsoft
Microsoft and Yahoo are holding informal merger discussions, marking a shift from the "radio silence" that previously existed between the two companies, according to a source familiar with the talks.
A lot has changed over the past two weeks, compared with February 1 when Microsoft issued its unsolicited buyout bid for Yahoo, which initially valued the company at $31 a share.
"Yahoo has shown some willingness to have a conversation and talk," said the source on Wednesday. The source noted the Redmond giant has since come to the conclusion it may never get a formal rejection letter from Yahoo.
Whether these informal talks will lead to a deal has yet to be seen, added the source.
The recent events add further clarity to comments Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made at CeBIT a couple weeks ago, in which he said "'there is a range of dialogue' for both companies about the proposed takeover," as cited in an Associated Press report.
Another source close to Microsoft's Yahoo buyout efforts, however, cautioned Thursday that if the talks had reached a substantive level, Microsoft would have disclosed it publicly.
Last week, Yahoo announced it would extend the deadline for investors, including Microsoft, to nominate an opposition slate of directors, in an effort to avoid a proxy fight with the Redmond giant while it explored its options.
Then on Monday, one of Yahoo's possible white knights, News Corp., indicated it had no interest in entering into a bidding war with Microsoft. And on Tuesday, Time Warner's CEO noted he wouldn't rule out a deal with the company's AOL operations and Yahoo, noting in sweeping terms that Time Warner would consider anything that would make AOL stronger. AOL, however, announced Thursday it plunked down $850 million--in cash--for social-networking site Bebo. And while the Bebo acquisition doesn't necessarily mean Yahoo is no longer of interest to AOL, Time Warner has less money to burn post-Bebo.
Representatives from both Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment.
And while the software giant could pounce and go hostile at any moment--via a proxy fight, exchange offer, or both--Microsoft-Yahoo observers should be ready to park it on a bench for a while.
Microsoft has set no internal deadline of when it's ready to say enough is enough, said the source.
"Sure there has been some frustration in Redmond over the pace, but this is a marathon and not a sprint," said the source.
CNET News.com's Ina Fried contributed to this blog.
Dawn Kawamoto covers enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News. E-mail Dawn. 
moment to fit the situation at hand, and it's been that way since
at least 1997*.
The 'logic' for a hostile takeover of Yahoo! (at way above book
value) is simple: If you can't beat 'em, EAT 'EM.
I hope the 'merger' happens, because with Bill Gates out of the
way, the combined implosion will happen at warp speed.
MS is flush with cash, and the org chart is full of billionaires who
don't know how to manage, and wouldn't recognize an
innovative idea if it bit them in the a**.
*I attended at Microsoft Strategies For Business seminar in '97,
when the Internet was quickly becoming 'the next big thing', and
the presenter was literally redoing his PowerPoint presentation
during the intermission between the first and second parts of
the presentation to fit the (mostly negative) feedback he'd
gotten during the first half. After the presentation, he was on
the phone to Redmond, giving them the bullet points he'd just
made up out of whole cloth.
Rest in peace Yahoo
the Sprint + Nextel merger.
the AOL + Time Warner merger.
the AT&T(Ma bell) + TCI merger.
the AT&T(Ma bell) + MediaOne merger.
or
the @Home + Excite merger.
Mark my words Yahoo! plus M$ would be dead in the water. They're better off separate because they overlap in almost everything yet their combined numbers still would trail Google by a wide margin. Yahoo needs to just come up with some more popular sites for their network....
SAY NO ! ! ! !
Don't forget what Yahoo did to Musicmatch either;
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004845.html
- Yahoo! Will Be the Zune of Portals When MSFT Is Done With It
- by TheSmellyMoa March 16, 2008 10:29 PM PDT
- Everyone at Yahoo! is running straight at the office windows, they're so desperate to get away from the horrific specter of working for psycho Steve Ballmer and the Borg.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(7 Comments)The place will be empty when the Borg arrive. The MSFT engineers will show up and curse the BSD boxes and get to work creating a completely new catastrophe for the company.