Microsoft Offered $1 Billion For Yahoo Search; Plus $8 Billion Investment; Wanted 10-Year Exclusive
By Rafat Ali - Wed 25 Jun 2008 02:08 PM PST
Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) has sent another open letter to its shareholders, in an attempt to allay any fears about renewed talks with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), following the Google (NSDQ: GOOG) deal. Besides a repetition of why the Google search deal makes sense, it has disclosed some new details of what MSFT proposed in a sub-set deal following the first proposal of outright buyout of the online company. Some details from the letter:
-- “Rather than acquire our whole company as it had been proposing for months, Microsoft now proposed to acquire only our search business for $1 billion and a share of future search advertising revenue.
-- This proposal also included an $8 billion investment in Yahoo but required Yahoo! to commit to a 10-year exclusive arrangement that would have made us dependent on Microsoft for all of our search business.
-- It would also have given Microsoft veto rights on certain future Yahoo! actions, including a sale of Yahoo.
-- While Microsoft’s search-only hybrid proposal may have been helpful to Microsoft, our board and management concluded it would have had a significant adverse impact on Yahoo! strategically, leaving the Company without the operational control of search assets and technology we view as critical to our objective of becoming a leader in the converging search and display advertising business.
This letter is aimed primarily at shareholders ahead of its annual meeting on August 1, asks them to reject Carl Icahn’s alternative board slate, and also outlines the reasons why…
