Steve Ballmer is perhaps – perhaps – best known for doing monkey dances while covered in sweat. But if anyone thought he was pushing the Yahoo issue alone, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell has stepped forward to talk about the situation.
Chris Liddell
Much of what Liddell said during an earnings-related conference calls echoed Ballmer’s more ominous statements. “Speed is of the essence for the deal to make sense,” he began. “Unfortunately, the transaction has been anything but speedy and has been characterized by what would appear to be unrealistic expectations of value.”
Reuters reports that Liddell then continued, “We have yet to see tangible evidence that our bid substantially undervalues the company. In fact, we see the opposite. . . . [U]nless we make progress with Yahoo towards an agreement by this weekend, we will reconsider our alternatives. . . . These alternatives clearly include taking an offer to Yahoo shareholders or to withdraw our proposal and focus on other opportunities.”
It’s interesting that Microsoft still hasn’t settled on a single threat; the company’s leaders surely have some idea of what they’ll do within the next 24 hours. Still, the main point here is that the leaders seem to be in agreement, despite what less powerful employees may think.
Also, if they hold to their “by this weekend” deadline, the next few days should be pretty interesting.
