Jun 2, 2008 1:18 pm US/Pacific
Court Papers Shed Light On Microsoft-Yahoo Fallout
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
A Delaware judge has unsealed court documents containing new details about Yahoo's efforts to ward off Microsoft's unsolicited bid to buy the Internet pioneer.
The documents that were made available Monday over Yahoo's objections shed new light on an employee severance program that would have driven up Microsoft's expenses in a successful takeover. The records were obtained as part of a shareholder lawsuit filed against Yahoo's board for resisting Microsoft's overtures.
Yahoo's own internal estimates reveal the severance plan would have added $462 million dollars to $2.1 billion dollars to Microsoft's costs.
That's based on the software maker's initial offer of $44.4 billion dollars, or $31 dollars per share.
Microsoft last month orally offered to raise its bid to $33 a share. But that offer has been withdrawn in a disagreement over price.
The shareholder lawsuit alleges Microsoft could have afforded to bid more if Yahoo hadn't adopted such a generous program in the event of a takeover.
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