Microsoft withdraws offer to buy Yahoo Inc.
Microsoft Corp walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo Inc on Saturday after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Microsoft’s offer was for $33 a share but Yahoo would not lower its demand below $37, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said. The software company initially bid $31 per share for Yahoo more than three months ago.
“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,” Ballmer said in a statement.
Analysts say Yahoo has overplayed its hand and they expect the Web pioneer’s shares to fall as much as 30 percent to $20 levels when Nasdaq trading resumes on Monday. The stock rose nearly 7 percent to $28.67 on Friday on hopes of an agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo.
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