The whispering campaign has begun, with hints of Microsoft reevaluating its original bid for Yahoo. Is it a bluff, or a true change in interest?
After basically just hanging out and waiting for Yahoo to talk with them about the takeover bid for the past two months, pressure is being put on Jerry Yang and the management group to do something.
The latest episode of the dealings between Microsoft and Yahoo over an unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for the Internet portal and its services concerns meetings between higher-ups, with the Wall Street Journal saying they met, and they parted.
Yahoo wants more money. Microsoft has no competitive reason to offer more, even though the bid’s value dropped to about $42 billion in recent weeks. Now the whispering begins, the subtle pressure on Yang to deal.
Reuters cited a source familiar with the discussions in saying Microsoft is reconsidering its offer. “Worsening market conditions” may be giving Steve Ballmer pause.
Yahoo already has a handful of little lawsuits against it for rejecting Microsoft’s offer outright. There is no question Yahoo has been in discussion with its banking advisors and the big institutional investors who control a lot of shares of Yahoo, and of Microsoft.
One can imagine none of those parties wants to wait two more years for Yahoo to possibly meet the lofty figures they provided in a series of briefings. They certainly don’t want to see Yahoo’s stock fall if Microsoft walks away from the table, a scenario that could drop the share price below its January 30th low of $18.58.
CNBC Tech Check guy Jim Goldman doesn’t think Microsoft can walk away at this point. To cap off the day, shares of Yahoo declined today in after hours trading to $27.45 as of press time.
