Techmeme @ 11:40 AM ET, May 4, 2008

11:40 AM ET, May 4, 2008

Top Items:

Yahoo! Issues Statement in Response to Microsoft — SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Roy Bostock, Chairman of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company issued the following statement today in response to Microsoft Corporation's announcement that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo!:

Discussion: TechCrunch, StepForth SEO News Blog, BBC NEWS, Forbes, I4U News, VoIP Blog, Geek News Central, Furrier.org, Tech Trader Daily, LiveSide, Paul Kedrosky's … and Geek Speaker

Microsoft:

Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo! — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc. — Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

MicroHoo: The Odd Couple Meetings Led Nowhere — After today's events, I guess you could say Yahoo and Microsoft tried, holding a series of meetings about a possible takeover that ended up proving exactly how incompatible the companies were. — Kind of like Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, but not funny in any way at all.

Discussion: Between the Lines, Valleywag and Paul Kedrosky's …

Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:

OK, so what's Microsoft's plan B? — With Yahoo apparently off the table, it's time to see what Microsoft's back-up plan looks like. — Microsoft has said for some time that it has a strategy with or without Yahoo, but it's a strategy clearly in need of a jump-start.

Discussion: The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs and About Mobility Weblog

DealBook:

Guessing Yahoo's Opening Stock Price — Well, Yahoo seems to have gotten what it wanted. — The company managed to fend off Microsoft's unwanted advances, even after the software giant sweetened its bid by $5 billion — an amount Yahoo felt still wasn't enough.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog

Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer After Attempt to Bridge Gap in Price — Microsoft Corp. said it abandoned its offer for Yahoo Inc., as the two companies failed to bridge a gap between them on price. — Microsoft Saturday released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer …

Discussion: Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and Tech Beat

Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:

Report: A peek behind the Yahoo-Microsoft meltdown — Curious how Microsoft's multi-multi-multi-billion dollar buyout bid for Yahoo sputtered, then crashed? — Kara Swisher's BoomTown column in All Things Digital has an interesting account of the missteps, sidesteps …

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

Yahoo's Nightmare Scenario: I'm From Google and I'm Here to Help! — Here's what a top-notch source at Yahoo joked to me tonight, after Microsoft walked away from its unsolicited takeover bid to acquire the long-troubled Internet giant. — “Google is now officially our best friend.” — Oh no.

Discussion: Groundswell

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Yahoo's Tough Week Ahead — At around 4:30 California time today news broke that Microsoft has formally withdrawn its offer to acquire Yahoo (see Ballmer's email to Microsoft employees here). — Among other things, that ends a three month stock party where the market value of Yahoo jumped …

Discussion: Guardian Unlimited, Microsoft Watch, MediaShift and Paul Mooney

Yi-Wyn Yen / Fortune:

Blame it on Google — Microsoft CEO Ballmer said the software giant decided to walk away from a bid because Yahoo would become ‘undesirable’ if it formed an alliance with Google. — (Fortune) — Google proved to be the final straw that broke Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's back.

Discussion: MacDailyNews and CNNMoney.com

Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:

Analysis of the Microsoft Decision, Plus Yahoo's Hari-Kari — Here is my first-cut analysis of what has happened here: — On the friendly front, Yahoo drew a hard line at $37 per share, well above the $33 that Microsoft now says it told Yahoo this week it was willing to go

Discussion: broadstuff

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Email From Steve Ballmer To All Microsoft Employees — The following email was sent to all Microsoft employees from CEO Steve Ballmer at 5:17 pm PDT (see Breaking: Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Bid; Walks Away From Deal): — To: “Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)”

Discussion: InsideMicrosoft, WebProNews, VentureBeat and Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Bid; Walks Away From Deal (Updated)

Discussion: BoomTown, Beyond Binary, Reuters, The Next Web, BBC NEWS, Coop's Corner, Voices, LiveSide, Electronista, Valleywag, mathewingram.com/work, Business Technology, SarahLacy.com, Master of 500 Hats, Thomas Hawk's Digital …, Search Engine Journal and WinExtra

New York Times:
Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo

Discussion: CNET News.com, The Big Picture, deal architect, Slashdot, HipMojo.com and Digg

Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft pulls its Yahoo offer

Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:
Microsoft says proxy battle not worth it

Discussion: BloggingStocks

BBC:
Microsoft walks away from Yahoo

Discussion: Gizmodo and TECH.BLORGE.com

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
BREAKING: MICROSOFT WALKS

Discussion: Digital Daily, Valleywag, Changing Way, Paul Kedrosky's … and Hollywood Newsroom

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