Microsoft Corp. said it's back in talks with Yahoo Inc., this time centering around a deal that wouldn't mean a full buyout.Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) said in a statement Sunday that it is not at this time proposing a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo, "but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions..."
Earlier this month a suit against Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) by shareholders angry over its refusal of Microsoft's $47.5 billion buyout expanded to include company co-founder David Filo.
The case is pending in the Court of Chancery for the State of
Microsoft eventually walked away from the negotiations when Yahoo rejected its $33 per share offer, and the suit contends CEO Jerry Yang and Filo had personal interests in keeping the merger from happening. Yang owns 3.95 percent of Yahoo shares; Filo 5.85 percent.
Yahoo, meanwhile, said investor Carl Icahn's plan to replace the board and sell the company to Microsoft shows a "significant misunderstanding of the facts."
Chairman Roy Bostock, in an open letter to Icahn, said the board "met over twenty times to review Microsoft's proposal and Yahoo's other strategic alternatives. Throughout this process our board kept an open mind and an open ear."
Icahn, an activist investor known for shaking up companies to boost their share prices, is the majority shareholder of St. Louis-based American Railcar Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ARII), controlling about 53.7 percent of the company's common stock. In early February, Icahn and various affiliates notified The Greenbrier Cos. Inc. (NYSE: GBX) that they are interested in the company possibly merging with American Railcar.
He is CEO of Icahn Capital LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of New York City-based Icahn Enterprises LP (NYSE: IEP), through which Icahn manages various private investment funds.
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