It seems like only yesterday that the tech world was buzzing with talk about a proposed acquisition of the Internet search giant Yahoo, by software giant Microsoft. Maybe it wasn't actually yesterday (more like February) but even though talks about a transaction valued at nearly $50 billion have collapsed long ago, rumors continue to come up about continued talks. In an effort to perhaps silence some of those rumors, Microsoft issued a statement today on their website about it.
"Our position hasn't changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies," the company said in a statement.
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, had publicly opposed the acquisition even though he was heavily pressured by Yahoo shareholders who were led by American billionaire financier Carl Icahn. On May 13, 2008 Carl Icahn purchased as many as 50 million shares of Yahoo in an attempt to lead a the fight to remove Yang and other directors at Yahoo in response to what he considered "irrational" actions in rejecting Microsoft's takeover bid. His fight was unsuccessful.
Since the launch of the Microsoft bid in February, Yahoo shares have fallen 61 percent.
However, today Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer said, while speaking at a Gartner conference in Orlando, Florida that "It's clear that Yahoo did not want to sell the company. It didn't want to sell when we offered $33 [per share]. Perhaps there will be continuing opportunities to talk about a search partnership in the future."
At the same conference, Balmer also outlined some of his thoughts on waiting to upgrade to Windows 7, saying "If people want to wait they really can."
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