Yahoo chief executive officer Jerry Yang said a potential deal with Microsoft has tremendous power, but the software giant appears no longer interested in a full merger.
In his most public comments to date about his thinking on the four-month-old, on-again, off-again Microsoft merger saga, Mr Yang signalled his company remained open to a potential deal, but said Microsoft had ruled out a merger for now.
Earlier last month, Microsoft walked away from a proposal to acquire Yahoo for €30.4 billion, or €21per share, after Yahoo rebuffed its offer, saying it would only settle for €23.7 a share. "We did not walk away from that proposal. Microsoft did," Mr Yang said during an on-stage interview at the D: All Things Digital conference taking place near San Diego. He said he had felt a combination with Microsoft would have had a "tremendous amount of power. In mid-last month the two companies said they had begun discussions on an unspecified deal that is short of a merger. "Microsoft is no longer interested in buying the company, and we are talking about other things. We definitely have to understand what they're proposing...they clearly have an interest in Yahoo, and we need to understand more," he said.
In his most public comments to date about his thinking on the four-month-old, on-again, off-again Microsoft merger saga, Mr Yang signalled his company remained open to a potential deal, but said Microsoft had ruled out a merger for now.
Earlier last month, Microsoft walked away from a proposal to acquire Yahoo for €30.4 billion, or €21per share, after Yahoo rebuffed its offer, saying it would only settle for €23.7 a share. "We did not walk away from that proposal. Microsoft did," Mr Yang said during an on-stage interview at the D: All Things Digital conference taking place near San Diego. He said he had felt a combination with Microsoft would have had a "tremendous amount of power. In mid-last month the two companies said they had begun discussions on an unspecified deal that is short of a merger. "Microsoft is no longer interested in buying the company, and we are talking about other things. We definitely have to understand what they're proposing...they clearly have an interest in Yahoo, and we need to understand more," he said.