May 3, 2008
Mr. Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.
I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!'s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.
I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.
In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.
Also, after giving this week's conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.
We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a "hostile" bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:
* First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!'s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.
* Given this, it would impair Yahoo's ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.
* In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.
* This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.
* It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google's search services.
Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!.
We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.
I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.
But clearly a deal is not to be.
Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.
Sincerely yours,
Steven A. Ballmer
尊敬的Jerry：
歷時(shí)三個(gè)月，我們終于在微軟收購(gòu)雅虎一事上做出了決定。
我首先向你、你的管理團(tuán)隊(duì)、雅虎董事會(huì)表示個(gè)人的感謝。我對(duì)你為此事投入的時(shí)間和關(guān)注表示感謝，特別是你所投入的這么多精力。我認(rèn)為我們本周所做決定特別有用，讓我首次清楚地明白了什么是可能的，什么是不可能的。
在我們本周的交談中，我們有意愿將收購(gòu)價(jià)提升到每股33美元，這更印證了我們對(duì)此合并的誠(chéng)意。此提價(jià)可為雅虎股東帶來(lái)50億美元的額外利益。提價(jià)后，收購(gòu)要約價(jià)值相比1月31日雅虎收盤市值已有70%的溢價(jià)。但實(shí)際看來(lái)此報(bào)價(jià)仍然不夠，而你們最終堅(jiān)持微軟需要再多付至少50億美元，相當(dāng)于在每股33美元的基礎(chǔ)上再多加4美元。
經(jīng)過(guò)本周的會(huì)議和進(jìn)一步思索，我很清楚直接向雅虎股東提出收購(gòu)是不明智的，因?yàn)檫@一做法涉及到代理權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪，使此交易變質(zhì)為了交換收購(gòu)。我們與你的交談讓我們得出了以上結(jié)論，期間你已盡力讓雅虎不再是微軟收購(gòu)的對(duì)象。
我們特別考慮到雅虎目前為"敵意收購(gòu)"所準(zhǔn)備的計(jì)劃，即與谷歌的合作。我們認(rèn)為此做法讓微軟不再對(duì)收購(gòu)雅虎感興趣，其原因如下：
首先，此做法會(huì)促使廣告客戶使用谷歌作為反對(duì)您的巴拿馬付費(fèi)搜索系統(tǒng)，這從根本上上破壞了雅虎自身的戰(zhàn)略和長(zhǎng)期生存能力。這也將破壞你的搜索廣告，將廣告策略和周圍的環(huán)境暴露無(wú)遺。這將影響你的廣告業(yè)務(wù)，阻礙它的成長(zhǎng)。
鑒于此，此做法將損害雅虎保留人才的能力，而這些人才都是對(duì)廣告系統(tǒng)來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要的工程師，對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要。
除此之外，此做法還將會(huì)引起一系列的規(guī)章制度和法律問(wèn)題，包括微軟在內(nèi)的任何收購(gòu)方都不愿意接受的問(wèn)題。除其他事項(xiàng)以外，這將減少在市場(chǎng)上的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和選擇，從而鞏固市場(chǎng)份額。
這一做法也將有效地讓谷歌擁有在自己和雅虎的搜索平臺(tái)上搜索關(guān)鍵詞的定價(jià)權(quán)，并在此過(guò)程中以提價(jià)來(lái)?yè)屪哐呕⒖蛻?。除此之外，從商業(yè)角度來(lái)說(shuō)，任何引起法律問(wèn)題的理由都是不明智的。
其次微軟可以選擇與其他任何不依賴谷歌的搜索引擎提供商合并。
因此，當(dāng)你的計(jì)劃讓我作出一個(gè)堅(jiān)定的決定，就是放棄收購(gòu)雅虎。
我們向繼續(xù)前行，繼續(xù)創(chuàng)新，與我們的現(xiàn)有的人才團(tuán)隊(duì)一起成長(zhǎng)。我們也有可能通過(guò)戰(zhàn)略性交易發(fā)展新的合作伙伴。
我始終相信，直至今天，我們?yōu)槟銈兲峁┑氖仟?dú)一無(wú)二的選擇，我們對(duì)你們的股東進(jìn)行了充分和公平的估價(jià)。未達(dá)成統(tǒng)一協(xié)議，你和你的股東都在這份重要的估價(jià)上留下遺憾。
雖然如此，協(xié)議還是未能達(dá)成。
再次感謝你抽出時(shí)間和我們會(huì)談。
Sincerely Yours
史蒂夫·A·鮑爾默
Mr. Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.
I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!'s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.
I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.
In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.
Also, after giving this week's conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.
We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a "hostile" bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:
* First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!'s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.
* Given this, it would impair Yahoo's ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.
* In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.
* This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.
* It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google's search services.
Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!.
We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.
I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.
But clearly a deal is not to be.
Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.
Sincerely yours,
Steven A. Ballmer
尊敬的Jerry：
歷時(shí)三個(gè)月，我們終于在微軟收購(gòu)雅虎一事上做出了決定。
我首先向你、你的管理團(tuán)隊(duì)、雅虎董事會(huì)表示個(gè)人的感謝。我對(duì)你為此事投入的時(shí)間和關(guān)注表示感謝，特別是你所投入的這么多精力。我認(rèn)為我們本周所做決定特別有用，讓我首次清楚地明白了什么是可能的，什么是不可能的。
在我們本周的交談中，我們有意愿將收購(gòu)價(jià)提升到每股33美元，這更印證了我們對(duì)此合并的誠(chéng)意。此提價(jià)可為雅虎股東帶來(lái)50億美元的額外利益。提價(jià)后，收購(gòu)要約價(jià)值相比1月31日雅虎收盤市值已有70%的溢價(jià)。但實(shí)際看來(lái)此報(bào)價(jià)仍然不夠，而你們最終堅(jiān)持微軟需要再多付至少50億美元，相當(dāng)于在每股33美元的基礎(chǔ)上再多加4美元。
經(jīng)過(guò)本周的會(huì)議和進(jìn)一步思索，我很清楚直接向雅虎股東提出收購(gòu)是不明智的，因?yàn)檫@一做法涉及到代理權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪，使此交易變質(zhì)為了交換收購(gòu)。我們與你的交談讓我們得出了以上結(jié)論，期間你已盡力讓雅虎不再是微軟收購(gòu)的對(duì)象。
我們特別考慮到雅虎目前為"敵意收購(gòu)"所準(zhǔn)備的計(jì)劃，即與谷歌的合作。我們認(rèn)為此做法讓微軟不再對(duì)收購(gòu)雅虎感興趣，其原因如下：
首先，此做法會(huì)促使廣告客戶使用谷歌作為反對(duì)您的巴拿馬付費(fèi)搜索系統(tǒng)，這從根本上上破壞了雅虎自身的戰(zhàn)略和長(zhǎng)期生存能力。這也將破壞你的搜索廣告，將廣告策略和周圍的環(huán)境暴露無(wú)遺。這將影響你的廣告業(yè)務(wù)，阻礙它的成長(zhǎng)。
鑒于此，此做法將損害雅虎保留人才的能力，而這些人才都是對(duì)廣告系統(tǒng)來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要的工程師，對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)非常重要。
除此之外，此做法還將會(huì)引起一系列的規(guī)章制度和法律問(wèn)題，包括微軟在內(nèi)的任何收購(gòu)方都不愿意接受的問(wèn)題。除其他事項(xiàng)以外，這將減少在市場(chǎng)上的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)和選擇，從而鞏固市場(chǎng)份額。
這一做法也將有效地讓谷歌擁有在自己和雅虎的搜索平臺(tái)上搜索關(guān)鍵詞的定價(jià)權(quán)，并在此過(guò)程中以提價(jià)來(lái)?yè)屪哐呕⒖蛻?。除此之外，從商業(yè)角度來(lái)說(shuō)，任何引起法律問(wèn)題的理由都是不明智的。
其次微軟可以選擇與其他任何不依賴谷歌的搜索引擎提供商合并。
因此，當(dāng)你的計(jì)劃讓我作出一個(gè)堅(jiān)定的決定，就是放棄收購(gòu)雅虎。
我們向繼續(xù)前行，繼續(xù)創(chuàng)新，與我們的現(xiàn)有的人才團(tuán)隊(duì)一起成長(zhǎng)。我們也有可能通過(guò)戰(zhàn)略性交易發(fā)展新的合作伙伴。
我始終相信，直至今天，我們?yōu)槟銈兲峁┑氖仟?dú)一無(wú)二的選擇，我們對(duì)你們的股東進(jìn)行了充分和公平的估價(jià)。未達(dá)成統(tǒng)一協(xié)議，你和你的股東都在這份重要的估價(jià)上留下遺憾。
雖然如此，協(xié)議還是未能達(dá)成。
再次感謝你抽出時(shí)間和我們會(huì)談。
Sincerely Yours
史蒂夫·A·鮑爾默