Secret Yang Plan to Save Yahoo

Analysts see 'beginning of the end for Yahoo' as CEO steps down

(NEWSER) - Investors are hoping Jerry Yang’s departure will lead to renewed talks with Microsoft, BusinessWeek reports. “This is probably the beginning of the end for Yahoo,” said one. “Microsoft will probably come back with an offer.” Microsoft has repeatedly denied interest in reviving a deal, but Yang’s departure “clears the path,” one analyst said. “Yahoo can free up its strategic alternatives.” More»

CEO, facing shareholder backlash, says Microsoft 'wouldn't negotiate'

(NEWSER) - Though Microsoft's courtship of Yahoo came to an unhappy end, Yahoo is still open to suitors, even Microsoft—at the right price, insists CEO Jerry Yang. Yahoo is in talks with other companies about ways to boost its value, and while Yahoo isn't in a rush to sell, executives are willing to listen to any would-be buyer, Yang tells Bloomberg as he faces mounting shareholder criticism for letting the deal get away. More»

The two sides meet again, but neither will budge

(NEWSER) - Microsoft and Yahoo execs met again this week, but the software maker refused to raise its takeover offer and the two sides failed to make progress toward an agreement. Yahoo won’t enter formal negotiations unless Microsoft increases its Jan. 31 cash-and-stock bid, then worth $44.6 billion and now about $42 billion, sources told the Wall Street Journal. More»

Stock upgraded to a buy after $34-per-share offer predicted

(NEWSER) - A Citigroup analyst upgraded Yahoo stock to a buy today, predicting that Microsoft will raise its buyout bid from $31 per share to $34, MarketWatch reports. Acquiring Yahoo is the only way for Microsoft to successfully compete with Google for online advertising, said analyst Mark Mahaney, and so “the likelihood of Microsoft walking away from the deal is small." More»

(NEWSER) - Yahoo today restated its opinion that Microsoft’s $44.6 billion buyout bid underestimates the online giant’s “combination of unique assets,” but for the first time stated publicly the strengths it would bring to the Microsoft merger, MarketWatch reports. In an investor presentation for the SEC, the company argued it would take Microsoft "from sub-scale position to strong positions in search and display." More»