Microsoft jumps ship, Yahoo investors follow
May 5, 2008 by Tisa Silver
Filed under Finance
Microsoft has abandoned its efforts to acquire Yahoo…at least for now.
News of the collapsed deal has investors fleeing this stock like the plague! Less than one hour into the trading day, shares of Yahoo were down 20%. The sell-off has pulled back a bit and shares are down about 15% at mid-day.
It’s obvious that the higher-ups (particularly CEO Jerry Yang) at Yahoo are pleased about the demise of this potentially hostile takeover. But, investors seem to disagree. Microsoft’s offer produced a 50% run up in price for Yahoo shareholders and after today’s news, nearly half of that gain was erased.
Yahoo’s market value is now roughly $14 billion LESS THAN Microsoft’s bid. If the company does not find a way to regain today’s losses in the near future, Microsoft or another tech suitor could emerge with an even lower offer.
So Yahoo gets to stay independent, but at whose expense?
