Yahoo open to new bids - if price is right

Yahoo open to new bids - if price is right

NEW YORK - YAHOO chief executive officer (CEO) Jerry Yang said he would be open to another bid from Microsoft or other companies at a price he considers appropriate.
Yahoo continues to speak with other companies about ways to increase its value, he said on Monday in a phone interview with Bloomberg News.

While the California-based company is not for sale, it would listen ’should somebody else come back some day and want to buy the company’, he said.

Yahoo, the most-visited United States website, turned down a US$33 a share offer from Microsoft, which withdrew its bid last Saturday. Yahoo’s rating was cut to ’sell’ by Citigroup and ThinkPanmure analysts on Monday, and its stock dropped 15 per cent.

‘The most important way to move the stock is to execute better,’ said Mr Yang, 39. ‘What I am going to do is be very proactive and discuss with as many shareholders as possible in the upcoming weeks or months about our strategy, where we are in the business, how we can execute.’

Yahoo’s operations are in ‘much better shape’ than they were three months ago, he added.

Yahoo fell US$4.30, the most in almost two years, to end at US$24.37 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading on Monday. The shares have gained 4.8 per cent this year.

Mr Yang, who co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with fellow Stanford University student David Filo, lost US$232.7 million (S$318.8 million) in the value of his Yahoo holdings on Monday.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement last Saturday that Yahoo had sought at least US$37 a share, a price he was unwilling to pay.

Yahoo, meanwhile, is discussing a pact with Google, which holds the largest share of the market for advertising on search engine results, two people familiar with the matter said. An agreement could come as soon as this week, one said.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Source : Straits Times - 07 May 2008

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