Icahn May Push for MS/Yahoo Merger

May 13th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - News by Jeff Gamet

Microsoft walked away from its Yahoo buyout offer, but billionaire Carl Icahn may not be ready to give up so easily. Sources close to Mr. Icahn claim he has been buying up Yahoo shares in preparation of pushing a proxy take over so that Microsoft can try its buy out again, according to CNBC.

Mr. Icahn may have acquired some 50 million yahoo shares already, and could use that to leverage a move to replace three or four Yahoo board members with pro-Microsoft alternatives. Microsoft, however, has not expressed any interest so far in supporting Mr. Icahnis alleged scheme.

Mircosoft presented Yahoo with a US$44.6 billion unsolicited buyout offer in early February, but the Internet search and advertising company shot the offer down claiming it was undervalued. The Redmond-based Windows Vista maker eventually pressured Yahoo to the negotiating table, but withdrew its offer in early May.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer commented at the time "After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal."

Should Mr. Icahn plan to pursue his own hostile take over setup, heill have to act soon because Thursday marks the deadline for presenting his proxy board roster.