Microsoft-Yahoo: deadline has arrived, no deal

On Saturday, the ultimatum expired, which Steve Ballmer personally set on Yahoo on behalf of Microsoft. Three weeks ago, he gave Yahoo management one last chance to resolve the deal peacefully and set a deadline of April 26, 2008, when Yahoo should have given a final answer. And this Saturday came, then the weekend passed and Monday. Negotiations did not stop until the last day. But now, even with a reservation for the weekend, you can confidently say: the parties did not come to an agreement, there is no deal. The company Yahoo has responded to the offer of Microsoft with a refusal and now, obviously, the largest IT corporation in the world will switch to a hostile takeover option.

Yahoo is a public corporation, open joint stock company whose shares are traded on the stock exchange. In free circulation is 25% of the company, and the rest belongs to institutional investors - various investment, pension and insurance funds. Microsoft can buy all the shares that are freely available, as well as carry out relevant work with institutional investors. The owners of large blocks of shares, of course, care, first of all, about their financial well-being and immediately sell their packages if they consider the price acceptable. In any case, they will decide the fate of Yahoo, because now they own 75% of the votes in this joint-stock company.

The outcome of this case may be crucial for Steve Ballmer’s career, because even influential top managers inside Microsoft itself are against Yahoo's purchase. If it comes to a hostile takeover, it will be the largest hostile takeover in the history of IT business.