Report: Ballmer says Yahoo announcement coming 'in very short order'
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says he knows exactly what Yahoo is worth and isn't willing to go a dime over that, Silicon Alley Insider reported Thursday.
Ballmer, speaking to Microsoft employees in a so-called town hall conference call Thursday, also said an announcement regarding Yahoo is coming "in very short order," the blog site reported. But what he meant by that is unclear, since he also noted that he had "nothing to say today." A reporter for Silicon Alley Insider apparently listened in on the call.
Balllmer says he knows what Yahoo is worth.
(Credit: Dan Farber/CNET News.com)Ballmer also didn't put a price tag to what he thinks Yahoo is worth, but his comments may indicate that talks between the two companies are still going on. The Yahoo comments came up during a question-and-answer session in which he reiterated Microsoft's three options: Make a friendly deal, go hostile, or walk away.
The Microsoft chief exec also explained to his employees that Microsoft needs Yahoo in order to gain scale in the online market. "(Yahoo) accelerates scale. Gets us more advertisers, gets us search. Yahoo's not a strategy. It's a part of a strategy. We're interested in paying for it at some level, and beyond that level we're not willing to pay for it," Ballmer said, according to Alley Insider.
Interestingly, Ballmer seems to believe that on the Internet, many people would think of his company as the underdog as it tries to play catchup with Google. "The world," he said, "is rooting for us."
Jim Kerstetter has been writing about the high-tech industry for more than 13 years, as a senior editor at PC Week, a Silicon Valley correspondent at BusinessWeek, and now an executive editor at CNET News. He moved back to Boston because he missed the Red Sox. E-mail Jim.
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Most people want that.
And people complain about Steve Jobs' RDF (reality distortion field).
My god, what parallel universe does this guy live in?
If they win, they'll have to face a thicket of massive expense and a horde of top talent fleeing the company. The integration alone will be a massive headache, and the results will probably leave Google with a bigger marketshare than ever before.
If they lose, word will be official that Microsoft is no longer the feared and invincible corporate force that it once was.
/P
Microsoft made overtures to yahoo for how many months (years?) on the concept? It's business, not religion guys.
It's costing Yahoo money & marketshare to play their game. Yahoo's direction, PR(?), antics, etc are tiring. I trust Microsoft will lower the offer price before going hostile.