Microsoft takeover deadline for Yahoo expires

A Microsoft deadline for Internet service company Yahoo to accept its 44.6-billion-dollar (28.5-billion-euro) acquisition offer expired at midnight Saturday, setting the stage for a hostile takeover bid by the software giant.

Neither of the two sides made any comment as the Sunday 0700 GMT deadline came and went.

The deadlock was likely to pave the way for an ugly proxy battle -- a fight by Microsoft for a vote by Yahoo shareholders to place pro-Microsoft officials on its board of directors.

In an open letter to the Yahoo board of directors on April 5, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer gave the Internet pioneer three weeks to accept the 31 dollars-a-share takeover offer or face a proxy fight.

Ballmer also warned that any further delays could result in a less attractive offer for Yahoo.

But Yahoo's board of directors has said the offer "substantially undervalues" the California firm, insisting the company is worth at least 40 dollars a share.

http://scitechbox.com/news/microsoft-takeover-deadline-for-yahoo-expires

Microsoft Persiapkan Karyawan untuk Akuisisi Yahoo

Seorang eksekutif Microsoft mengirimkan email yang secara garis besar mengatakan untuk bersiap-siap untuk pengambil-alihan Yahoo. Yahoo menolak tawaran 44.6 milyar dollar dari Microsoft tanggal 11 Februari kemarin. Namun Microsoft diberitakan akan melakukan pengambil-alihan secara paksa jika dewan direksi Yahoo tidak mengubah pikirannya.

Dalam pesan-nya kepada para karyawan, presiden divisi layanan Kevin Johnson membagikan perspektifnya mengenai bagaimana proses ini akan berjalan.

Jika Yahoo menyerah, transaksi ini akan ditutup pada semester kedua tahun ini, menurut Johnson.

Dalam usahanya untuk menghindar dari Microsoft, perusahaan internet tersebut dilaporkan tengah menjajaki kemungkinan aliansi dengan Google, Time Warner pemilik AOL, dan situs jejaring sosial seperti MySpace yang dimiliki oleh News Corp.

Beberapa pemegang saham Yahoo di California menuntut perusahaan karena menolak tawaran Microsoft awal tahun ini, saat harga saham lebih tinggi.

Microsoft saat ini menawarkan kombinasi antara kas dan saham yang dinilai $31 per lembar, namun direksi Yahoo berpendapat bahwa setidaknya perusahaan berharga $40 per lembar, sebuah harga yang membuat Microsoft harus mengeluarkan uang lebih banyak 10 milyar dollar.

Google mengutuk pengambil alihan yang dilakukan oleh Microsoft sebagai aksi yang melanggar kebebasan internet.

Walaupun tidak berjanji bahwa tidak akan ada karyawan yang diberhentikan, Johnson mengatakan bahwa Microsoft akan menahan talenta terbaik, dan besarnya ukuran gabungan ini memungkinkan mereka untuk mengalihkan tenaga kerja untuk wilayah operasi yang berbeda.

Sebagai usaha untuk menjaga karyawan Yahoo tidak keluar saat pengambilalihan, Johnson menjanjikan kompensasi yang menarik bagi karyawan.

The Biggest Tech Disappointment of 2007

These much-ballyhooed products, sites, and services, it turned out, left much to be desired.

#1. No Wow, No How: Windows Vista

Five years in the making and this is the best Microsoft could do?

It's not that Vista is awful. The integrated security and parental controls are nice, and the Aero interface is as whizzy as it gets. Searching and wireless networking are much faster and easier than under XP.

It's just that Vista isn't all that good. Many of the innovations the operating system was supposed to bring--like more efficient file and communications systems--got tossed overboard as Microsoft struggled to get the OS out the door, some three years after it was first promised. Despite its hefty hardware requirements, Vista is slower than XP.

When it debuted last January, incompatibilities were rampant--in part because hardware and software makers didn't feel any urgency to revamp their products to work with the new OS. The user account controls that were supposed to make users feel safer just made them feel irritated. And at $399 ($299 upgrade) for Windows Ultimate, we couldn't help feeling more than a little gouged.

No wonder so many users are clinging to XP like shipwrecked sailors to a life raft, while others who made the upgrade are switching back. And when the fastest Vista notebook PC World has ever tested is an Apple MacBook Pro, there's something deeply wrong with the universe.

We have no doubt Vista will come to dominate the PC landscape, if only because it will become increasingly hard to buy a new machine that doesn't have it pre-installed. And that's disappointing in its own right.