After all the speculation, it finally happened: there’s a Microsoft (MSFT) offer on the table to acquire Yahoo (YHOO) for a mix of cash and stock valued at $44.6 Billion, which is about a 62% premium to Yahoo’s current market valuation. Well.. current as of yesterday, when it closed at $19.18 – right now, pre-market it trades at $30.80, almost at the offer price of $31. (I suspect some early buyers will regret that…)
Update: Here’s the “you’ve failed” part from Steven Ballmer’s letter to the Yahoo Board, fully quoted on ZDNet:
In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that “now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction.” According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the “potential upside” if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.
A few early posts, before the world wakes up: Between the Lines, Irregular Enterprise, Search Engine Land, TechCrunch. Parislemon’s title (and pic) is telling: Join us – or die!.
From the second I heard the news, that immediately popped into my head…
Looks like my 9 year relationship with Yahoo will go to Google.
Looks like there’s tools to move your email over too.
if MS touches it in 2008- It won’t be great…
Did I mention Everyone I know has bought a MAC because of Vista…
Yahoo RIP –
HD-DVD – RIP
Vista- RIP
XBOX – We’ll see but Sony and Nintendo will give it a run in 2008/2009.
Yahoo by Microsoft will be the name. YAHMic!