Microsoft has ended its hostile bid for Yahoo today, withdrawing its $46 billion USD offer and announcing it will no longer bid for the company.
A couple of days ago the software maker upped its bid $5 billion USD, a 70 percent premium compared to its inital offer in January.
“After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
In an open letter to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, Ballmer said that Yahoo wanted at least a $48 billion USD offer, and that the company should take the offer directly to the shareholders. Ballmer said that would not be “sensible.”
“This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer,” Ballmer added. “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.”
Yahoo officials appear very happy with Microsoft’s latest decision.
“Our independent board and our management have been steadfast in our belief that Microsoft’s offer undervalued the company and we are pleased that so many of our shareholders joined us in expressing that view,” Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said.
Result for: software maker
After Take-Two announced that the blockbuster hit GTA IV had hit $500 million USD in sales for its first week, Microsoft was quick to release data alleging that over 60 percent of those sales were for the Xbox 360 console and not the rival PlayStation 3.
The software maker claimed that 3.75 million copies of the 6 million sold worldwide in the first week were for the Xbox 360 console and even added that the games helped push 360 sales 54 percent week-on-week, a gigantic surge.
Microsoft also noted that in the UK retailers were reporting “a strong attach rate between the game and console sales”, claiming that at least 40 percent of new console sales were selling with a copy of the hit game.
“Grand Theft Auto IV has done phenomenally well this week with Xbox 360 version outselling PS3 in our stores,” said Gerry Berkley, trading manager at Woolworths.
“Xbox 360 console sales have seen a big uplift off the back of Grand Theft Auto IV launching. It’s clear our customers see Xbox 360 as a great console for this incredible game.”
According to data by Chart-Track in the UK, GTA IV led the software sales charts selling about 927,000 copies. The next closest game, Wii’s hit Wii Fit sold 103,000 copies for the week.
Result for: software maker
According to the Xbox 360 DVD Drive Database, the new ‘Jasper’ Xbox 360s have begun shipping as of August in the UK and in the US.
The ‘Jasper’ hardware revision is the shrinking of the GPU from a 90nm chip to a 65nm chip which the company hopes will keep the system cooler and significantly reduce the now infamous ‘red ring of death’, the sign that your 360 needs to be replaced.
Overall, Microsoft has spent $1 billion USD in replacing 360s that have failed (mainly from overheating) which has dipped into profits the software maker is making on the console.
The database says the Arcade model is shipping with the Jasper revisions in the UK, the US and other countries around Europe. A new update marked this week shows the Elite model shipping to the US with the Jasper revisions.
