Yahoo! Investor Looks For New Microsoft Deal

A small investor in Yahoo! is attempting to revive a deal to sell the company to Microsoft for $2 billion less than it offered in July.

Mithras Capital, owner of a 14% stake in Yahoo!, proposes that Microsoft buy Yahoo! and dispose of its Asian assets and non-search businesses for $11.7 billion, making $3 billion of cost savings and receiving $2.8 billion of tax benefits.

Microsoft last made an offer for Yahoo! at the end of July, since when Yahoo!’s share price has fallen by around 37%.

Following Microsoft’s last offer, the search company has attempted to agree a search advertising deal with Google.

However, this has been put on hold while competition regulators in the US and EU investigate the proposed partnership. Microsoft has also criticised the deal (see Google And Yahoo! Deal Criticised).

Mark Nelson, partner at Mithras, said: “It is imperative for Microsoft to act now, while the Yahoo!-Google deal is mired in regulatory concerns, and before Yahoo! strikes a deal with AOL.

“It is imperative for the Yahoo! board to embrace this proposal as the best outcome for long-suffering Yahoo! shareholders.”

Yahoo!: 020 7808 4200 www.yahoo.co.uk Microsoft: 0870 60 10 100 www.microsoft.com/uk