The latest emerging rumor about Yahoo’s attempts to avoid Microsoft’s takeover cited a potential merger with AOL.
After telling Microsoft to go pound sand unless they can crank up their $31 per share hostile takeover bid to the $40 neighborhood, Yahoo casted about for a possible relationship to help keep them out of Steve Ballmer’s clutches.
Since all of the activity takes place on the West Coast, it would logically follow that any new news comes from there as well. Not in Yahoo’s case. The Times Online of London, reporting from New York, said the possibility of an AOL emerged ahead of an expected statement today from Jerry Yang about rejecting Microsoft’s bid:
Tie-ups with groups such as Google or Disney are also being considered. Although Yahoo! and AOL previously failed to join forces because of differences over price, it is hoped that the urgency created by an unwelcome approach from Microsoft and an impending economic downturn will spur the two into new talks.
Disney may not have the stomach for involving itself with Yahoo, given the relative lack of success of Disney’s acquisition of Infoseek, aka Go.com now, in 1999. Giving up the search and advertising business to Google has been touted for some time as a moneymaker for Yahoo, but the FTC may frown upon Google being handed another 25 percent of a US search market it already dominates.
By rejecting Microsoft’s bid, Yang has to convince the big institutional backers that existing management will be able to increase the company’s value by more than Microsoft’s 62 percent premium. One large group of investors, consisting of current and former Yahoo staffers, is not convinced.
Eric Jackson posted that his group’s holding of 2.1 million shares would be open to bids. They exhorted other shareholders to join their position:
We believe we can do a better job representing our own interests as Yahoo! shareholders, rather than putting our faith in the current Yahoo! board. We have no desire to see Yahoo! continue independently with the current board and management team in place. We believe that is a recipe for a $17 stock price.
Pre-market trading in Yahoo added 65 cents to Friday’s closing price, bumping the stock to $29.85 as of 5:20 am ET.