Microsoft CFO: 'We'll see what next week brings'
In a broadcast to company employees Friday, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell echoed what has become the company's mantra on Yahoo: It's time to take our offer.
He didn't say anything too different from what he told analysts on Friday, or from what CEO Steve Ballmer was saying all week in his European tour, essentially that things weren't moving quickly enough.
"We've been disappointed in the speed at which the transaction went," Liddell said in the broadcast. "We put what anyone reasonable would say was an incredibly generous offer on the table to try to facilitate a speedy transaction."
But, in the now-familiar lament, he said the response has been anything but speedy and reiterated the weekend deadline for Yahoo to get off the stick with regards to Microsoft's $31-per-share offer for the Internet company.
"And if we don't consummate a transaction or make significant progress by then, I think we've signaled very publicly--we'll think about our alternatives," Liddell said, according to a transcript filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "And our alternatives then are to try to facilitate a transition, to possibly go directly to Yahoo shareholders. Or to walk away and go back to our original organic strategy. We'll see what next week brings."
He noted that there is clearly a lot of interest from investors over Yahoo, noting there were 2,000 people tuned into the Webcast Thursday, up from a normal 800 or 900 people tuning in.
"I'm sure it wasn't interest in how many Xboxes we've sold," Liddell said. "So there is a huge amount of interest in what happens in Yahoo. Not surprising given the size and significance of it."
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
The weatherman can give me better odds on the future than what this guy did.