Microsoft Threatens to Go Hostile on Yahoo

Microsoft says Yahoo has three weeks to negotiate a decent deal, after which time Microsoft is going to get medieval on its ass.

The company sent out a letter to Yahoo's board, whining about how there hasn't been any meaningful progress in negotiations, and in the meantime, the equity markets are tanking.

[decapitator]

So far I have been hearing mixed reviews about the Air. I will wait for a second gen Air before deciding to pick up one.

[decapitator]

Ignore the above comment, story was changed.

EDIT: I changed it by resubmitting the same story. Sorry about that.

[Breakfast]

How did the story change like that? I saw the mac book air one a little while ago.

[EZCheez]

This is about the fifth time I've seen you do it.

[tweaker]

EZCheez is right. I've seen it happen before.

[Alcaponedyou]

microsoft.

[Archaeox]

I dont understand why MS wants Yahoo so badly

And what do they mean by "going hostile"

[captainpwn]

Microsoft's Live Search is getting their arses handed to them by the tyrant that is Google. Microsoft is serious about their online presence and it is nearly impossible in their current state. By buying Yahoo, they would have so much brand power and advertising muscle, they would have enough to take on Google. If you're going to ask why Microsoft doesn't negotiate with Yahoo to work together, the two companies, its simple. Yahoo is also competing with Microsoft. And, Microsoft doesn't care for working with others. They want to be the proprietary solution with every product they make.

[ArmrdChaos]

As in hostile takeover. If the board for Yahoo doesn't want to work a mutual deal then MS will probably try to buy the company out from under them.

[EZCheez]

Before a bidder makes an offer for another company, it usually first informs that company's board of directors. If the board feels that accepting the offer serves shareholders better than rejecting it, it recommends the offer be accepted by the shareholders. A takeover is considered "hostile" if:

The board rejects the offer, but the bidder continues to pursue it, or
The bidder makes the offer without informing the board beforehand

The main consequence of a bid being considered hostile is practical rather than legal. If the board of the target cooperates, the bidder can conduct extensive due diligence into the affairs of the target company. It can find out exactly what it is taking on before it makes a commitment. But a hostile bidder knows about the target only the information that is publicly available, and so takes a greater risk. Also, banks are less willing to back hostile bids with the loans that are usually needed to finance the takeover.

In a private company, the shareholders and the board are usually the same people or closely connected with one another. So, private acquisitions are usually friendly, because if the shareholders agree to sell the company then the board is usually of the same mind or sufficiently under the orders of the shareholders to cooperate with the bidder. This point is not relevant to the UK concept of takeovers, which always involve the acquisition of a public company.

If management may not be acting in the best interest of the shareholders (or creditors, in cases of bankrupt firms), a hostile takeover allows a suitor to bypass intransigent management. In this case, this enables the shareholders to choose the option that may be best for them, rather than leaving approval solely with management. In this case, a hostile takeover may be beneficial to shareholders, which is contrary to the usual perception that a hostile takeover is "bad."

[wow4u]

This isnt a hostile takeover. Wired using the word "hostile" is wrong. MS isnt doing or saying any such thing.

A hostile takeover is when company A buys company B's stock against the wishes of CompA.

What MS has said is this to the YHOO Board: "You are losers. We know the shareholders disagree. If you dont accept the offer, we're going to collect proxy-voting rights and remove you."

This is a Proxy-voting war or "proxy war". And, is a totally different thing.

Frankly, I think MS is overpaying for Yahoo and doesnt really need them, MS is simply trying to move ahead "faster" buy getting YHOOs marketshare.

[AllroundGamer]

i hope we will see a news story in the future with the title "People threatens to go hostile on Microsoft"...

[wow4u]

Is this relevant commentary for the Gamer Zone? Take your mindless insults ->

[LastDance]

N4g..your comments are written by no saint either. chillout.

Go get a job as a police or something. he's comment is fine.

and has a very valid opinion/comment.

[TriggerHappy]

Damn, Microsoft...

[niall77]

could the hundreds of millions be better spent making a decent OS and a xbox that works when its hot out?

[captainpwn]

Bubbles for you.

[Atomic]

well , Microsoft doesn't give a damn about their costumers , they are in just for the mighty dollar.

[vloeistof]

thats ms

[heyheyhey]

lol @ pic and description

but seriously, M$ is too drunk on it's on sense of power (can you blame them?), they need to chill out

althought the $$$ they offered is pretty damn sweet, if i were a Yahoo shareholder, id snap that up and take my family to the Bahamas baby

[Obama]

He looks like as if he's going to rape someone. XD

[Phil Harrison Mklll]

He has...xbox fans!:D

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 4]

...the Air We Breath!!! ;-D
WE ARE ALL DOOMED!!! ;-D

[TheBarExam_2]

Medieval..Nice

[narindp]

microsft should put the money into producing better hardware for their 360s rather then buying yahoo. Or they can invest the money into making an acutal next gen system like sony and nintendo have.

[wow4u]

The Xbox 360 motherboard underwent hardware revisions in July 2007 to resolve the heat issues.

Please, catch up m'kay?

[EastCoastSB]

To the ever growing list of reasons why I hate MS.

[v1c1ous]

am i rite?

[Alcaponedyou]

isn't that the order of visits?
anways yahoo is better because it has news/fun stuff, google is plain.
i use google for searches but yahoo when there's nothing to search

[EZCheez]

I like Yahoo far more than Google. Everyone can say it's a better search engine anyday, but as far as interactivity and style goes, Yahoo wins. The main Yahoo page is full of all sorts of things to do, whereas when you go to Google, you get a search engine. Nothing wrong with that, and I know there is more to Google, but if you can't show it all at once, its kind of disappointing in comparison.

Besides, I've searched for the exact same thing with both, and I've never gotten anything different from the two.

[EastCoastSB]

Actually I do, but that's not the point. MS going all hostile because they can't get there way is the reason it pisses me off.

[fezthabest]

i love yahoo and google. I have yahoo as my homepage and therefore get my short teaching of news, etc and love yahoo for their Q&A. BUT i love google the same, i use it for searching anything. IF google turned a bit more like yahoo in the interface would love it even more, and hate MSN live search etc

[zonetrooper5]

Much like Google bought out Youtube etc, every company will do this but it seems like MS is just famous for stuff like this lol.

[zen_fart]

i hope m$ kill yahoo, all of them.

[TurdStationPee]

Why doesn't Yahoo just go tell M$ to f*ck off? Do they own stock in each other or something? wtf?

[heyheyhey]

if M$ goes hostile they have no option but sit tight and hope for the best

M$ will take them eventually, Yahoo are but a bug under M$'s bloated foot

[Lets-Game]

google is simple and on the point, you wanna find something you go on google type, there done. I dont see why people use yahoo over google when they want to find something. google is simple, easy and a better search engine why would you want another layout?? when whole page is filled with news,text, advertisements etc.. when you just want to find something. I just dont understand some people.

[wow4u]

http://www.live.com

[DJ]

But not THIS bad. Scheme up a plan to fire the people in charge of Yahoo and force it to become part of Microsoft? Sure Yahoo makes 5 times more profit off their internet service than Microsoft does for MSN, but seriously.

[wow4u]

YHOO has been bleeding money for like 6 quarters. Why dont you read a newspaper instead of bloviating on N4G about how much you think MSFT suxors m'kay?

[LinuxGuru]

For those of you complaining about google's simplicity, you DO know that you can customize your start page, right?

You can add all kinds of games, news, clocks, calendars, dictionaries, calculators, widgets, etc etc etc etc

[SuperSaiyan4]

I only ever use Google, I don't use either MSN or Yahoo for searching or even want to go to any of those sites.

Google is the best.

[ikkokucrisis]

I love Yahoo. I use them for email, games, and photos.
I hope they keep up the resistance just like Rockstar did against EA.
Just remember, without competition there is no freedom for us to choose.

[RJ2000]

The only good business by Microsoft now a days is the business they buy? Remember the good old days when they produced actual decent products.