Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Icahn to Yahoo: Sell to Microsoft for $49.5 billion

By Elizabeth Montalbano , IDG News Service , 06/06/2008
  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print

Carl Icahn and Yahoo's board traded barbs once again on Friday as the billionaire investor increased his pressure on Yahoo to make a deal with Microsoft, demanding that the company put itself up for sale to Microsoft for a little more than $34 a share.

In a letter Friday to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, Icahnn told the board to stop avoiding the issue and publicly offer to sell the company to Microsoft for $34.375 a share, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which posted the letter on its Web site.

The total would be about $49.5 billion, about $5 billion more than Microsoft's original Feb. 1 bid for the company and $2 billion more than the last offer Microsoft made before taking the deal off the table early last month.

"In my opinion, Microsoft does not believe you will ever sell the entire company on a friendly basis," Icahn wrote in the letter, according to the WSJ. "So why don't you stop dancing around the subject and publicly offer to sell the company to Microsoft for $34.375 per share and promise to cooperate completely?"

Yahoo's board responded immediately and harshly, accusing Icahn of having "no credible plan to operate Yahoo" and calling his demand that the company put itself up for sale publicly "ill-advised."

"We believe that Mr. Icahn's suggestion that we cancel our retention plan would have a destabilizing impact on Yahoo and would clearly not be in the best interest of our shareholders," Yahoo said in a statement.

Yahoo added that the company is still "open to any transaction including a sale to Microsoft if it is in the best interests of shareholders."

However, it's not clear if Microsoft is still interested in purchasing the company. Microsoft's last public statement on a possible deal was on May 18, when the company said it would consider a deal to purchase some but not all of Yahoo, but was not making a new bid to purchase the entire company.

Friday's exchange continues a week of letters between Icahn and Bostock over the proxy battle Icahn officially mounted against Yahoo on May 15, and pressure the investor continues to put on Yahoo's board to make a deal with Microsoft.

Icahn aims to remove Yahoo's board members, including Bostock and CEO Jerry Yang, at an August shareholder meeting and replace them with his own slate of directors. In a letter to Yahoo Tuesday, Icahn said he also planned to oust Yang as CEO if he is successful in removing the board.

  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print
Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find out more

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download the White Paper

Don't Fall For The Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Download the White Paper

Will You Add Tape Too?

Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.

Download Survey Information

Comments (1)
Login
Forgot your account info?

Yahoo-Microsoft merger, can Icahn force it?By Microsoft Subnet on June 9, 2008, 10:51 amIt is good for Yahoo's shareholders that Carl Icahn has stepped in to try to represent their interests. Icahn wants the Yahoo board to simply announce that Yahoo...

Reply | Read entire comment

View all comments

Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed

Whitepapers

Windows Vista: Necessity and Opportunity

The Vista era of Windows is here. Yet most organizations will retain Windows XP alongside new Vista...

A Unified Approach to Workload Lifecycle Management

Discover how solutions that support workload profiling and enable anywhere-to-anywhere workload...

Consolidated Disaster Recovery Using Virtualization

Server virtualization is providing enterprises of all sizes with exciting new options for...

Webcasts

Migrating to Windows Vista: Necessity and Opportunity

The Vista era of Windows is here. Yet most organizations will retain Windows XP alongside new Vista...

Turning information into a Competitive Advantage

Companies today are realizing that competitive advantage is harder to sustain when based solely on...

PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE Market

The standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Special Reports

Mapping a Successful Virtualization Course

Managing a newly virtualized environment can be tricky. Effectively deploy this technology with the...

Data Center Decisions

Data Center Decisions Made Easier. Learn about the latest tech trends that impact your data center...

Closing the Loop: Extending Wireless LAN Security to Wireless Printers

Enterprises cannot overlook wireless printers when assessing network security. The print jobs and...

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library. Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.
Network World,to go. Wherever you are. Breaking news delivered to your mobile device. Select the hottest topics in networking and start receiving Network World on your mobile device today.