Yahoo Can Run, But It Can't Hide In Geneva
Microsoft and Yahoo executives quietly met on Monday to talk over Microsoft's unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo. It wasn't the sort of meeting where hands are shaken and papers are signed; reportedly Yahoo executives just listened to Microsoft explain what would happen if Microsoft's bid was accepted. Yahoo has been thrashing around trying to find some way to avoid being purchased, but time might be running out for them. In the very likely event that Yahoo's next quarterly results are announced and they are weaker than last quarter, Microsoft could lower their bid, and thereby cause an insurrection of shareholders against the current board. Your move, Yahoo.
Yahoo's board rejected Microsoft's offer Feb. 11, saying it undervalued the company. The cash-and-stock offer was initially valued at $44.6 billion, a 62% premium to where Yahoo shares traded the day before it was announced. Since then, a 12% decline in Microsoft shares has reduced the total value of the offer to $41.9 billion, or $29.11 a share.
Microsoft has refused to consider raising its offer unless it gets a closer look at Yahoo's books, the people familiar with the matter say.
Separately, Yahoo said it is moving its European headquarters to Switzerland from London. The company said it will move to a site on the shores of Lake Geneva within 18 months. The move is "part of our ongoing international business strategy to increase competitiveness, deliver financial results, performance and efficiencies," the company wrote in a release.
Ah, efficiency. I'm sure that lakeside real estate in Geneva, Switzerland is ever so much cheaper than London. Someone should inform Yahoo that they have an Internet business. You could run it from somewhere that doesn't sell real estate by the square inch.
Yahoo's board rejected Microsoft's offer Feb. 11, saying it undervalued the company. The cash-and-stock offer was initially valued at $44.6 billion, a 62% premium to where Yahoo shares traded the day before it was announced. Since then, a 12% decline in Microsoft shares has reduced the total value of the offer to $41.9 billion, or $29.11 a share.
Microsoft has refused to consider raising its offer unless it gets a closer look at Yahoo's books, the people familiar with the matter say.
Separately, Yahoo said it is moving its European headquarters to Switzerland from London. The company said it will move to a site on the shores of Lake Geneva within 18 months. The move is "part of our ongoing international business strategy to increase competitiveness, deliver financial results, performance and efficiencies," the company wrote in a release.
Ah, efficiency. I'm sure that lakeside real estate in Geneva, Switzerland is ever so much cheaper than London. Someone should inform Yahoo that they have an Internet business. You could run it from somewhere that doesn't sell real estate by the square inch.
