Microsoft signs confidentiality agreement with Yahoo
24 Nov 2011
Microsoft Corp has signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Yahoo Inc, enabling it to scrutinise the latter's finances, in a possible move to acquire it.
Yahoo's board, which fired chief executive Carol Bartz in September (See: Yahoo chief Carol Bartz sacked), is considering various options, including sale of shares to potential partners, in a bid to rescue the troubled firm.
Microsoft had unsuccessfully tried to buy Yahoo in 2008, offering $47.5 billion. But the Yahoo board, during the tenure of co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO, had rejected the bid.
The company's stock has been hammered in the bourses and a bid by Microsoft will now cost it less than half of the sum it had offered three years ago. Even two months after Yahoo sacked Barz, it has still not appointed a new CEO. Tim Morse, the chief financial officer, is the interim CEO.
The company is facing stiff competition from Google Inc and Facebook Inc, two leading internet firms.
Several private equity firms are also keen on acquiring a stake in the trouble internet giant. They include Blackstone Group LP, KKR & Co, TPG Capital and Silver Lake, some of who have signed NDAs with Yahoo.