EON

In The End No Deal Was Struck Due To Abandonment Of Chase

Redmond, Washington- In the final accounting the reason that there was no Yahoo accquisiion by Microsoft was that the leader of the software giant chose to end the pursuit.

Leader Steven A Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Inc. simply abandoned his chase of Yahoo Inc., a company as recently as last month that he referred to as “Crucial to Microsoft’s Future,” and withdrew from the deal on Sunday.

Mr. Ballmer has gestured and trumpeted his pursuit of Yahoo as the “next companywide milestone in the race to embrace search advertising and online services.”

But for some reason when the middle of negociation refusal of Yahoo to accept the bid that Microsoft was offering, reportedly a $31 dollar a share offer, Microsoft walked away.

Now, many people in the industry feel that it was not a wise choice for Yahoo to refuse Microsoft and that in so doing the overall value of the Yahoo company may be affected for a period of time to come.

But for Mr. Ballmer to take his fellow accquisiiion team and go home is perplexing. After all of the hype and build up, it makes even the most jaded observer scratch their head and wonder about it all.

More than any one thing, when you make a loud, public raucous announcement of a unsolicited offer to take over another company, you have one thing you have to do in follow through for your announcement.

You must win. Not at any cost, perhaps, but at any cost within reason, which while high, the bid of $37 dollars a share for Yahoo stock was still an offer that was in the ballpark.

Watchers even speculate that had Microsoft CEO Ballmer sweetened his $31 dollar offer to $34 dollars per share he would have triumphed, less than the $37 sought by Yahoo but enough to win any proxy fight.

Perhaps Mr. Ballmer will pursue Yahoo at a time later down the road, but if he does he would be well served to take the lessons learned this time to heart:

-Don’t attempt the deal unless you are truly willing to do what it takes to win.