Rumorama: Apple, Google Want To Help Yahoo Fend Off Microsoft

It seems a lot of people really don't want Microsoft's hostile takeover of Yahoo! to proceed, including some big names like Google and Apple.

Jerry Yang, the CEO of Yahoo!, has been hesitant to issue a statement on the deal and is rumoured to be stalling for time so that Yahoo! can receive a competing bid from a more favourable company.

This has led some outlets to speculate on Apple making an offer soon to counter Microsoft. As I reported earlier in Apple's Q1 financial results, Apple already has $18.4 billion in the bank available for use, and they could easily raise the rest of the necessary funds through other financial means.

Jerry Yang would reportedly be open to an Apple bid:

It is believed he would be particularly open to a rescue bid from Steve Jobs' Apple Corp, having openly expressed his admiration for the firm in the past.

Yang last year invited Jobs to Yahoo!'s headquarters in Sunnyvale to give a motivational talk to staff.

In a statement on its website, Yahoo! said: "Will the board seek proposals from any other companies? The board is going to evaluate all of Yahoo's strategic alternatives and pursue the option that it believes can best maximise value for our shareholders."

Google has been openly critical of the deal, with official statements admonishing the takeover deal and laying down some heavy allegations:

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

Eric Schmidt, co-founder of Google, has also been making calls to Jerry Yang offering assistance to Yahoo! to fend off Microsoft as well.

Can Apple and Google save Yahoo! from the clutches of Microsoft? We'll have to see, but for now, the whole deal is turning into the tech news equivalent of a daytime drama, and I'm secretly enjoying it.

[via MacRumors]