Media In The City: Yahoo! Still Centre Of Attention
It was another busy week in the City, with Yahoo! the main focus of attention following Microsoft’s attempted $45 billion takeover.
At the start of the week, Yahoo! rejected the bid, saying that it substantially undervalues the company (Full Story).
However, a deal could still go ahead if Microsoft returns with an improved offer, which reportedly might have to be in the region of $12 billion more.
It was also rumoured that Yahoo! was seeking to restart merger discussions with AOL in an effort to fend of Microsoft’s advances (Full Story).
Meanwhile, News Corp was understood to have been in talks with private equity firms about making an investment with Yahoo! that would give it a shareholding of more than 20%, allowing Yahoo! to remain independent.
Towards the end of the week, Yahoo! sent a letter to shareholders telling them that its current management and strategy would create value in the face of Microsoft’s $45 billion takeover bid (Full Story).
It is now believed that Microsoft is considering its options following Yahoo!’s rejection of its bid, with Facebook mentioned as a possible acquisition.
In other news, it was the deadline for interested groups to submit their first round bids for SMG’s Virgin Radio (Full Story).
Bidders for the station are understood to include Charles Allen’s Global Radio, UTV, private equity firm Vitruvian Partners and Absolute Radio, an investment and consulting business headed by former Capital Radio executives Donnach O’Driscoll and Clive Dickens.
Global Radio said that it was keeping its options open regarding another bid for GCap (Full Story).
Global said: “While Global Radio retains the right to make an offer, there can be no certainty that it will do so. This announcement does not constitute a firm intention to make an offer.”
Elsewhere, Omnicom Group announced that net income for the fourth quarter of 2007 increased 13.2% to $313.9 million from $277.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 (Full Story).
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