Yahoo says talks with Microsoft 'ongoing'
Yahoo said that deal talks are ongoing with Microsoft as the company resisted an attack by billionaire critic Carl Icahn, who called its recent actions "deceitful." Yahoo President Susan Decker trumpeted new ad partnerships with Wal-Mart Stores and...
Yahoo said that deal talks are ongoing with Microsoft as the company resisted an attack by billionaire critic Carl Icahn, who called its recent actions "deceitful."
Yahoo President Susan Decker trumpeted new ad partnerships with Wal-Mart Stores and others as Icahn, an activist investor, stepped up pressure on Yahoo over its rebuff of Microsoft's €30.4 buyout offer.
She said some form of deal with Microsoft could still come about, sending Yahoo shares up 2.7 per cent for the day, despite Icahn's later blistering attack on chief executive officer Jerry Yang's leadership at Yahoo.
In an invective-filled letter to Yahoo, Mr Icahn used terms like "deceitful," "self-destructive," "misleading" and "insulting to shareholders" for moves by Mr Yang and the board to retain employees in a severance plan likely to make a deal with Microsoft more costly.
He called on Yahoo to rescind anti-takeover defences and merge with Microsoft, writing "even I am amazed at the length Jerry Yang and the Yahoo board have gone to in order to entrench their positions and keep shareholders from deciding if they wished to sell to Microsoft."
Yahoo fired back, in kind, saying Icahn's attack on the company "seriously misrepresents and manipulates the facts" regarding dealings between Microsoft and Yahoo and that it relied on allegations from an error-filled lawsuit.
The company labelled as "patently untrue" key assertions contained in the complaint filed by lawyers for two Detroit pension funds who seek to unwind its anti-takeover defences in order to force Yahoo to accept a full Microsoft merger deal.
Yahoo Inc. executives dismissed a search-advertising deal with Google due to antitrust concerns, one day before Microsoft Corp. made its takeover offer earlier this year, according to court documents made public.
Talks between Yahoo and Microsoft are focused on finding a price for buying Yahoo's search business, and these discussions are likely to conclude in the "next week or so," a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Some of the finer points under discussion include what Microsoft would pay Yahoo for the right to run advertising alongside Yahoo search queries, the source said.
Separately, Yahoo continues to talk with Google Inc., and could end up striking a deal with the web search giant if Microsoft and it do not reach terms, the source said.
Yahoo's new ad deals include a multi-year partnership with Wal-Mart to be the primary ad sales channel for Walmart.com. Yahoo will become the exclusive portal to resell the site's display inventory. In another deal, Yahoo signed up the digital unit of advertising holding company Havas.
A third agreement calls for Yahoo to carry CBS content, like clips from TV shows, as part of a broader plan by the media company to add new outlets for its TV programmes.
Yahoo is also adding 94 titles to its newspaper advertising consortium, bringing the total to 779.
Yahoo President Susan Decker trumpeted new ad partnerships with Wal-Mart Stores and others as Icahn, an activist investor, stepped up pressure on Yahoo over its rebuff of Microsoft's €30.4 buyout offer.
She said some form of deal with Microsoft could still come about, sending Yahoo shares up 2.7 per cent for the day, despite Icahn's later blistering attack on chief executive officer Jerry Yang's leadership at Yahoo.
In an invective-filled letter to Yahoo, Mr Icahn used terms like "deceitful," "self-destructive," "misleading" and "insulting to shareholders" for moves by Mr Yang and the board to retain employees in a severance plan likely to make a deal with Microsoft more costly.
He called on Yahoo to rescind anti-takeover defences and merge with Microsoft, writing "even I am amazed at the length Jerry Yang and the Yahoo board have gone to in order to entrench their positions and keep shareholders from deciding if they wished to sell to Microsoft."
Yahoo fired back, in kind, saying Icahn's attack on the company "seriously misrepresents and manipulates the facts" regarding dealings between Microsoft and Yahoo and that it relied on allegations from an error-filled lawsuit.
The company labelled as "patently untrue" key assertions contained in the complaint filed by lawyers for two Detroit pension funds who seek to unwind its anti-takeover defences in order to force Yahoo to accept a full Microsoft merger deal.
Yahoo Inc. executives dismissed a search-advertising deal with Google due to antitrust concerns, one day before Microsoft Corp. made its takeover offer earlier this year, according to court documents made public.
Talks between Yahoo and Microsoft are focused on finding a price for buying Yahoo's search business, and these discussions are likely to conclude in the "next week or so," a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Some of the finer points under discussion include what Microsoft would pay Yahoo for the right to run advertising alongside Yahoo search queries, the source said.
Separately, Yahoo continues to talk with Google Inc., and could end up striking a deal with the web search giant if Microsoft and it do not reach terms, the source said.
Yahoo's new ad deals include a multi-year partnership with Wal-Mart to be the primary ad sales channel for Walmart.com. Yahoo will become the exclusive portal to resell the site's display inventory. In another deal, Yahoo signed up the digital unit of advertising holding company Havas.
A third agreement calls for Yahoo to carry CBS content, like clips from TV shows, as part of a broader plan by the media company to add new outlets for its TV programmes.
Yahoo is also adding 94 titles to its newspaper advertising consortium, bringing the total to 779.