Microsoft would be willing to re-enter takeover talks with Yahoo! but only if the company replaces its board of directors at its annual meeting on August 1.
In a statement, Microsoft said that it “would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the ‘search’ function with large financial guarantees or, in the alterative, purchasing the whole company”.
Microsoft has been attempting a takeover of Yahoo! since January, with Yahoo! turning down a $33 a share deal offered earlier this year.
Yahoo! activist shareholder Carl Icahn, who has been campaigning for the Microsoft deal, is now set on replacing the board with his own choice at next month’s annual meeting.
Icahn told the Guardian: “One thing is clear – Jerry Yang and the current board of Yahoo! will not be able to ‘botch up’ a negotiation with Microsoft again, simply because they will not have the opportunity.”
Earlier this month, US anti-trust regulators began investigating the search advertising partnership between Yahoo! and Google (see US Regulators Investigate Yahoo!/Google Deal) which was struck following Microsoft’s failed takeover bid.
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