SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said Thursday
he knows how much he'd spend to buy Yahoo and accelerate his company's Internet
play. Too bad he's not telling anyone else.
"We're willing to pay for that at some level, and beyond that level we're
not willing to pay for it. I know exactly what I think Yahoo is worth to me,"
the executive said during an employee meeting. "I won't go a dime above, and I
will go to what I think it's worth if that gets the deal done."
Ballmer did not say whether Microsoft is considering raising its unsolicited
bid, worth $44.6 billion at the time it was made in early February.
The offer is currently worth about $42.4 billion, or $29.48 per share, based
on Microsoft Corp.'s closing stock price Thursday. Yahoo Inc. has rejected the
offer, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft's board has been considering
whether to raise the bid to as much as $33 per share, according to The Wall
Street Journal.
Ballmer didn't provide any new insight into the company's efforts to buy the
Silicon Valley pioneer during the meeting at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash.,
headquarters, but he did indicate that an end to months of speculation is near.
"We ought to announce something in relatively short order," Ballmer told
employees.
His comments were first reported by Silicon Alley Insider, an online
technology news site, and confirmed by a Microsoft spokesman.
Ballmer added that buying Yahoo is just one of many moving parts in the
software maker's strategy to compete with Google Inc. in search and Web
advertising, and that if neither a friendly nor a hostile deal "look good," he's
willing to walk away.
Microsoft's board met Wednesday but reached no decision on a next step, the
Journal reported. The software maker had given Yahoo until last weekend to agree
to a deal or face the prospect of an ugly proxy fight.
Meanwhile, Yahoo is exploring a possible advertising partnership with
Internet search leader Google Inc. or a merger with the online operations of
Time Warner Inc.'s AOL as possible defenses if Microsoft tries a hostile
takeover.
Impressed by a two-week test completed last month, Yahoo could firm up a
long-term deal within a week, according to the Journal. Any alliance between
Yahoo and Google would face intense antitrust scrutiny, however, because the two
companies control more than 80 percent of the U.S. market for search
advertising.
Yahoo and Google hope to allay those concerns by structuring their deal so
their rivals, including Microsoft, could participate in an auction-based system,
the Journal said.
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