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Was Willing To Sell, But Microsoft Withdrew The Offer: Jerry Yang, Yahoo CEO
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One day after Microsoft formally walked out of the MS-Yahoo deal, ET reports Jerry Yang saying that they were ready to sell off Yahoo to Microsoft, but they withdrew the offer. Reportedly, Microsoft’s CEO Ballmer and his team were not ready to negotiate and withdrew the offer.
Jerry Yang believed that the value of Yahoo was much more than the $33 per share price, finally offered by Microsoft.
In an interview published in The New York times, Jerry Yang said,
“They (Ballmer and his aides) chose to walk away after we put a price on the table, and they didn’t want to negotiate,”
Yahoo wanted a price of $37 per share. Microsoft felt the price of $ 37 a share was too much.
Yang further told the New York Times,
“From my perspective, we were open all along to selling to Microsoft. We just feel Yahoo, either stand-alone or with Microsoft, is worth more than what they put on the table”.
However, Yang’s account differs substantially from Microsoft’s executives that say that they received no counter offer from Yahoo even three months after Microsoft placed their bid. They said that Yang and Yahoo’s board settled on a price of $37 a share and refuse to budge.
Well, we all know how enthusiastic Yang was about a Microsoft-Yahoo merger. I personally see the statement more as a jest on MS, rather than a serious revelation. Yang, somehow knew that $ 37 a share was something that Microsoft won’t be going for. And that’s what happened for now.
There are two very interesting things that are about to follow form here. One knowking Microsoft, it seems extremely improbable that it will let Yahoo be and won’t go after it. Microsoft is known to chase new markets and brands and get what it aims for (Read Microsoft-Yahoo-Google : Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai ). Second, Yang better do something drastic to change the fate of Yahoo whose shares have been at a low since a long time now. Yang has successfully hushed away Microsoft. As of now at least. And in doing so, he has managed to gain the fury and wrath of its investors. Its shares fell 20% after Microsoft withdrew its offer and many of its shareholders are threatening to sue Yahoo for not keeping the shareholders’ best interest in mind. Yang has to come up with something that can turn the tables and make Yahoo a top Internet company. It lags far behind Google in Internet search, despite of being a sexy brand. If Yahoo needs to steer alone, it will have to offer services that are compellingly sexy for the users and also keep their investors happy.
What do you guys think? Is the Microsoft danger over for Yahoo. Or will M$ strike back?
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