Yahoo's board of directors has yet to decide on Microsoft's
buyout offer worth 44.6 billion dollars announced last week, Jerry
Yang, CEO of the Internet search engine, said on Wednesday.
Yang said in an e-mail message to Yahoo employees that the
directors were "evaluating a wide range of potential strategic
alternatives in what is a complex and evolving landscape."
He added that the Silicon Valley company has fired "top
advisors" to assist in the process of evaluating options for its
future.
Microsoft's unsolicited bid was widely seen as the latest step
by the software giant to challenge Google's dominance of the
lucrative online search and advertising markets.
The offer has rocked the business world and prompted rival
Google to publicly oppose to the planned merger, arguing that
Microsoft was attempting to exert the same sort of inappropriate
and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the
PC.
Yang said in his e-mail that "the Microsoft interest highlights
the tremendous strength of the Yahoo brand and assets."
Industry analysts said that Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo
would eventually succeed, even though the merger could be slowed
down by expected anti-trust investigation, especially if a Democrat
wins the current presidential election.
(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2008)
