April 23, 2008 5:06 AM PDT
Ballmer: Microsoft can move on without Yahoo
Microsoft's CEO on Wednesday indicated that the company is unlikely to raise its bid for Yahoo and is prepared to walk away from the deal.
Steve Ballmer, speaking at a conference in Milan, Italy, said "we know what Yahoo's worth. $44 billion is a lot of money," according to a Dow Jones report.
Ballmer added that Microsoft is "prepared to move forward alone without Yahoo."
Yahoo on Tuesday reported that its first-quarter net income increased dramatically and reported earnings per share of 11 cents, 2 cents above analyst estimates.
Ballmer made similar comments on Tuesday, ahead of Yahoo's earnings report.
Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike. 
hull to finally sink it. I guess we'll have to watch the folly that is
U.S.S. Microsoft lumber on with monkey boy having fun playing
chicken with the icebergs.
inside the ship as well. So it's only a matter of time before the hull
is comprised from one side or the other.
Monkey Boy, meanwhile, has steered the ship into waters with both
icebergs and mines. And given his own penchant for tap dancing in
minefields, this looks like a lot of fun to him.
Could someone have actually penetrated the thickest skull on earth?
Oh well, MS is damaging itself in other entertaining ways.
I still think it's been worthwhile for both companies. Yahoo got TONS of free press because of it and actually became somewhat relevant in due to the media exposure. All of their barely noteworthy moves garnered excessive attention, which helps with strengthening their brand.
And Microsoft, though not gaining a huge merger that would have made their web services a contender, doesn't have to deal with a huge huge merger and fall out risks associated with it.
Given that Microsoft has a foot in almost every technology door, having an extra 44 billion dollars lying around to pursue other interests has some big appeal
Even with the MS shares involved, MS would have had to go into debt for what would have been a deal that made them weaker.
After all, getting bigger and slower is not the way to compete with an agile company.
I almost wanted to see MSFT do it - just to see if they could actually manage to shake the debt and the morass that it would cause.
/P
- Microsoft VS everyone
- by as901 April 24, 2008 4:23 AM PDT
- Regardless of the ads, Microsoft does not "innivate". They find ways to legally steal the work of others and profit off them.
- Reply to this comment
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(13 Comments)The last thing this world needs is for Microsoft to have more power to control the net.
If Microsoft buys Yahoo, I would stop using Yahoo that same day.
Mark Heinemann