Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang cited the growing online advertising market and his company's position to take advantage of that growth as reasons for shareholders to reject Microsoft's acquisition bid, he said in a letter to shareholders Wednesday. The letter, the contents of which Yahoo made public Wednesday, stated that Microsoft's February 1, $44.5 billion unsolicited takeover offer was too low. Yang said that Yahoo is the most visited site in the United States, held the top position in online display advertising, and counted almost one out of two of the world's Internet users as its members. He also said Yahoo is the top mobile destination in the U.S.
Yang did not cite sources for most of his claims. However, comScore Networks research from November 2007 confirmed Yahoo's online display advertising leadership, with almost 19 percent of the market. The online ad market is expected to grow from $45 billion last year to $75 billion in 2010, Yang said, and that Yahoo wanted "to take advantage of what we see as a unique window of time in the growth -- and evolution -- of this market to build market share and to create value for stockholders."
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