Microsoft May Borrow for 1st Time to Fund Yahoo Deal

Computer giant says it may combine cash and credit for $44.6B offer
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2008 8:09 AM CST
Microsoft May Borrow for 1st Time to Fund Yahoo Deal
A Yahoo worker walks into Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. Microsoft Corp. has pounced on the slumping Internet icon with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.'s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising...   (Associated Press)

Microsoft is likely to borrow for the first time to finance its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, the company's CFO said yesterday, rather than drawing down its reserves to fund the half-cash, half-stock offer. After spending $31 billion on stock buybacks and dividend payouts in 2007, Microsoft has $21 billion cash on hand, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Yahoo is said to be considering an alliance with rival Google in an effort to thwart Microsoft’s takeover try.

Yahoo founder Jerry Yang is said to be looking to top Microsoft's $31-a-share offer by exploring other opportunities, including revisiting months-old talks with once-bitter rival Google on some form of partnership, reports the Daily Telegraph. Other companies looking to avert a Microsoft deal also have approached Yahoo. (More Microsoft stories.)

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