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Microsoft withdraws proposal to acquire Yahoo!
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05/05/2008
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Over the weekend Microsoft announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo!.
“We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace, and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees.
“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.”
The withdrawal came as Yahoo’s board signalled that it would resist any attempt at a hostile takeover, with measures including outsourcing key paid Internet search terms to Google.
“In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons,” said Ballmer.
Putting a brave face on what has clearly been a disappointment and must also be a significant setback, Kevin Johnson, Microsoft president for platforms and services, insisted that it will not deflect the organisation from its growth goals.
“We are investing heavily in new tools and web experiences; we have dramatically improved our search performance and advertiser satisfaction; and we will continue to build our scale through organic growth and partnerships,” said Johnson.
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Author
Staff reporter
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