The corporate standoff betwixt Microsoft and Yahoo continues, with the latter staunchly refusing to bow to the former’s aggressive acquisition bid. Yet, while Yahoo pursues a line of hardball tactics in an attempt to pry more money from the impatient software giant, Microsoft is also taking stock for a different attack vector.
Microsoft and Yahoo edge closer to corporate slap session. Credit: Odegaard/Flickr.
More pointedly, various newspaper sources are claiming that Redmond-based Microsoft Corp. is currently holding talks with media behemoth News Corp. regarding a possible joint bid to finally knock the stubborn wind out of Yahoo and see the Internet company acquiesce.
If such a partnered bid should be forthcoming to sweeten Microsoft’s standing offer of $44.6 billion USD, then News Corp.’s leading social network MySpace would become a core aspect of the eventual Microsoft/Yahoo combination.
In terms of progress surrounding the talks between Microsoft and News Corp., The Wall Street Journal offers that ongoing communication between the two heavyweights is “serious,” while the New York Times suggests that discussions are at a sensitive stage.
The New York Times also reports that, although full terms of the Microsoft/News Corp proposition are not yet set in stone, it is likely that News Corp. will offer up its Fox Interactive Media division (which includes MySpace) and a cash injection as contributing elements of a Microsoft partnership designed to ensure Yahoo’s acquisition.
However, Yahoo is apparently not sitting idly by while Microsoft and News Corp. circle ominously like ravenous predators. According to unnamed sources referred to by the Reuters news agency, the Internet giant is itself in talks with Time Warner-owned America Online (AOL) regarding a possible merger opportunity.
Yahoo has also this week announced that it is entering into a two-week advertising trial period with search engine specialist Google, which will see the pair experiment with the sharing of ad-space. Industry watchers believe that communications with AOL and Google are little more than ploys employed by Yahoo to help drive its value beyond Microsoft’s current bid price.
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