Yahoo! hopes rival offers may scupper bid from Microsoft

[Sweetpea]

Yahoo!, the under-siege internet group, has received a string of tentative approaches, giving it hope that it could put together a deal that would allow it to rebuff Microsoft’s $45 billion (£22.7 billion) hostile bid.

The proposals, understood to be from media, telecoms and private equity groups, are all at an early stage, and it is far from clear that any will lead to a larger, outright cash bid for the ailing internet group. Many involve combinations short of a full takeover.

That level of initial interest is allowing Yahoo! to say it needs to take some time, in conjunction with advisers Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, to evaluate its options. But it is clear the internet company is trying to explore alternatives to a takeover by Microsoft that many believe it does not want.

Google is among those showing interest, despite the obvious regulatory issues that a combination of their search engines would raise. Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, is understood to have telephoned his counterpart at Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, on Friday to offer his company’s help to its smaller rival. It is not known what form such help would take.

Yahoo! hopes rival offers may scupper bid from Microsoft - Times Online

I hope, whoever does buy it. Yahoo's archaic layout and security mania drive me mad. I hate Yahoo with a passion.

[poppy]

I nearly got banned from yahoo answers. They didn't like the questions I asked on the US answers site.