Microsoft May Reopen Negotiations With Yahoo

In our last update concerning Yahoo, we brought you news regarding the reorganization of the business following Microsoft’s failed bid for the company. Latest news as discussed in this article from the Wall Street Journal, indicate that Microsoft may renew their bid pending changes on Yahoo’s end. Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer has informed activist shareholder Carl Ichan that the company will not reopen negotiations with the current board in place. Any potential negotiations will take place after Yahoo’s August 1^st meeting where it is expected that a new board will be elected. The bid that the previous board of Yahoo had turned down was worth $47.5 billion.

This statement was issued by Microsoft regarding the matter.

"We respect the right of Yahoo!'s shareholders to determine the destiny of their company, and we do not intend to engage in ongoing commentary on these issues in advance of Yahoo!'s shareholder meeting."

Yahoo Beginning to Sort Things Out, Announces Cloud Computing as a Priority

We informed you on Monday that Yahoo! has seen many executives leave over the past few weeks and is now trying to pick up the pieces. As mentioned here in EWeek, Yahoo has reorganized their business into three areas: Audience products division will now be lead by Ash Patel, US Region to Market Division will be lead by Hilary Schneider, and a third which has not been given a leader yet. All will be overseen by Yahoo President Susan Decker.

Yesterday, Yahoo announced that it will now begin to focus on cloud computing, with CTO Ari Balogh as the leader. Goals for this division will be: developing a world-class cloud computing and storage infrastructure; rewiring Yahoo! onto common platforms; and creating a stronger partnership between product and engineering teams.

In related news, the New York Times Bits blog divulges an email recently sent out to Yahoo! share holders. This email detailed reasons why Yahoo believes that Google is a better partner than Microsoft. Yahoo also did try to work with Microsoft to create new purchase terms, but that fell through. Many more questions will develop before the August 1^st shareholders meeting.