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Friday, March 14, 2008

Microsoft, Yahoo meet for merger talks

Senior executives from Microsoft and Yahoo met for the first time this week to discuss Microsoft's takeover offer for the internet company, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The meeting reportedly took place Monday near Yahoo's headquarters in Silicon Valley and was the first face-to-face talks between the companies since Microsoft tabled its unsolicited bid for Yahoo on January 31.

Yahoo's board last month rejected Microsoft's 41-billion-dollar ($A44.12 billion) offer as undervalued, and took steps to prevent Microsoft from going straight to shareholders via a proxy battle.

The cash-and-stock offer was initially valued at $US44.6 billion ($A47.99 billion), a 62-per-cent premium over where Yahoo shares traded the day before the announcement.

Since then, a 12-per-cent decline in Microsoft shares has reduced the total value of the offer to $US41.9 billion, or $US29.11 a share. The meeting was not categorised as a formal negotiation session and no bankers were present.

It was also unclear whether company chief executives Jerry Yang and Steve Ballmer participated.

The report said the session marked a breakthrough in communications between the two camps and was intended to allow Microsoft to present its vision of a combined company.

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