Microsoft ups Yahoo pressure

7 April 2008

Microsoft chief executive Steve Balmer has written to Yahoo's board of directors, ratcheting up the pressure for a response to Microsoft's takeover bid.

In an email sent over the weekend, Balmer set a three-week deadline for Yahoo to enter into an agreement, beyond which he warned that Microsoft would make a direct approach to Yahoo shareholders.

In the email, Balmer noted that Yahoo's share of search had dropped since Microsoft's January offer, and that equity markets and technology share prices in particular had also fallen. He suggested that the offer price, initially 62% higher than Yahoo's total share value, was "even more significant today".

According to Reuters, Yahoo will today tell Microsoft that needs to increase its $31-per-share offer, and will reject Balmer's suggestion that its value has fallen.

However, many commentators accuse both sides of posturing, with Michael Arrington writing in TechCrunch: "Someone, please throw a punch already."

In the Financial Times' technology blog, Richard Waters added: "At a time like this, just about anything either side says is pure rhetoric."

Category: Online marketing, Search engines, Yahoo