Chairman and CEO say $44.6 billion bid is too low in an open letter to Ballmer, but add that Web company is not opposed to some sort of deal.Yahoo continued to reject Microsoft's $44.6 billion unsolicited bid for the company Monday.
The Internet company is not opposed to some sort of financial deal, but the current offer is too low, chairman Roy Bostock and chief executive Jerry Yang said in a letter responding to Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) sent a letter to Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) on Saturday, threatening to offer the deal directly to stockholders if the company's board did not respond by April 26. When first put forward Feb. 1, the deal was worth about 62% above market value.
Bostock and Yang pointed to Yahoo's three-year financial plan, its new AMP advertising management platform and the fact that the company recently reaffirmed its first-quarter and year-end outlook as reasons they believe the Microsoft bid was low.
Ballmer's letter acknowledged Yahoo's search for third-party bids from other companies such as Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), News Corp. (NWS, Fortune 500) and Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), but questioned why the company refused to negotiate with Microsoft.
Yahoo's response also said that Ballmer's letter "mischaracterizes the nature of our discussions," and that the threat to take the offer to shareholders was "counterproductive and inconsistent with your stated objective of a friendly transaction."
The company said it was open to a transaction from any potential buyer, including Microsoft, but that it would reject anything below what it considers "full value."
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