Yahoo delays nominating board
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP) - March 5, 2008 The announcement Wednesday comes amid published reports that
Yahoo has stepped up discussions with Time Warner Inc. about
acquiring or forming a joint venture with its AOL online unit to
fend off the world's largest software company.
Microsoft's bid, originally valued at $44.6 billion, or $31 per
share, was made public Feb. 1. Yahoo has rejected the offer as too
low, and it was expected Microsoft would nominate its own slate to
the Yahoo board to push the deal through.
Yahoo said the deadline for nominations would be 10 days after
it announces the date of its annual shareholder meeting. The
previous deadline was March 14.
In a statement, Yahoo said the extension would allow its board
"to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for
maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a
proxy contest."
Yahoo and AOL declined comment on the reports Wednesday in The
Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that Yahoo and Time
Warner have stepped up discussions over AOL.
One scenario calls for Yahoo to acquire AOL outright with Time
Warner taking a minority stake in the combined company, the Journal
reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The Times, citing unnamed people close to Yahoo, said a
Yahoo-AOL combination has the backing of Google Inc., which owns 5
percent of AOL LLC. and fears a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo.
A Yahoo-AOL combination would create a stronger
advertising-driven business that could ultimately compete with
Internet search and advertising leader Google.
Both AOL and Yahoo have strengths in emerging technologies for
targeting ads based on users' Web surfing patterns, an approach
that Google so far has shunned in favor of contextual,
keyword-based placements.
Yahoo also has been in discussions media conglomerate News
Corp., the owner of the popular online hangout MySpace, a person
familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
Yahoo and Time Warner have talked about a combination before,
but the idea was rejected in 2005 because Time Warner at the time
insisted that it retain majority ownership in the AOL unit, two
people close to those discussions told the AP.