Apr 7, 2008, 16:43 GMT
San Francisco - Two days after Microsoft slapped a deadline on its buyout offer, a previously reluctant Yahoo signaled Monday that it was ready to strike a deal - but said it's worth far more than the 41 billion package offered.
A view of a billboard for Yahoo Inc. under a news ticker in Times Square in New York. EPA/JUSTIN LANE
'We are not opposed to a transaction with Microsoft if it is in the best interests of our stockholders,' the board of the internet giant wrote in an open letter to Microsoft chairman Steve Ballmer.
'Our position is simply that any transaction must be at a value that fully reflects the value of Yahoo!, including any strategic benefits to Microsoft, and on terms that provide certainty to our stockholders,' the board wrote.
Microsoft warned Saturday it would launch a hostile takeover bid if Yahoo didn't accept its buyout terms by April 26.
It originally offered a cash and stock bid worth 44.6 billion dollars in late February, a 62 per cent premium over Yahoo's price prior to the bid, but stock fluctuations have now made the offer worth around 41 billion dollars.
Microsoft warned that a hostile takeover would proceed at less attractive terms.
In its letter Monday, the Yahoo board maintained that the Microsoft deadline was 'counterproductive and inconsistent with your stated objective of a friendly transaction.'
Yahoo also wrote that the two companies had held several 'constructive' meetings to discuss the deal.
'Moreover, Steve, you personally attended two of these meetings and could have advanced discussions in any way you saw fit,' wrote board chairman Jerry Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang.
Yang and Bostock repeated Yahoo projections that the company's revenues would rise more than 70 per cent over the next three years, largely from a new advertising system announced Monday to sell online displays that will allow advertisers to target specific demographic groups across scores of Web sites.
They disputed Ballmer's claim that most Yahoo shareholders support a deal, saying, 'stockholders representing a significant portion of our outstanding shares have indicated to us that your proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo.'
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