Microsoft To Yahoo: Oh Yeah?! Well, We'll Buy You Anyway!

And the drama rages on! There's nothing more that I enjoy in the world than watching two rich, whiny punks cry about who is more right or mostest best for the consumer. Nothing! It's like watching that Monty Python and the Flying Circus sketch about the Idiot Olympics: funny and wrong, with a splash of truth and social commentary.

Microsoft fired back last night after Yahoo! denied MS's buy-out offer yesterday morning. While Yahoo! stated that Microsoft's offer "severely under-valued" the company, it seems Microsoft disagrees. I said in my post about that rejection yesterday that it feels like Yahoo! was just playing hard-to-get, and I think Microsoft feels the same way. From the press release:

It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with stakeholders of both companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties.

We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to
participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also
offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers
and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online
services market.

A Microsoft-Yahoo! combination will create a more effective company that
would provide greater value and service to our customers. Furthermore, the
combination will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a
compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online
advertising.

The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and
financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft
reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s
shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value
inherent in our proposal.

We really have no idea how this is going to turn out in the end. We know there are some people that are not happy about the proposal, other people that want to see a counter-offer from their favorite tech giant's, and still others that think the deal could do some good. It does have an air of inevitability to it, as we have no solid news of a strong offer from another company, and MS seems prepared to take the hostile buy-out directly to the stock holders is the Yahoo! board refuses to submit. It's all very Borg-ish right now.

However, what I do know is that I love me some corporate drama, so we here at Homotron will be sure to keep you updated!

Microsoft Responds To Yahoo! Announcement [Yahoo! News.... taste the irony]