Skip to main content

Yahoo to Microsoft: Make a Better Offer

Yahoo to Microsoft: Make a Better Offer
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yahoo has officially responded to Microsoft‘s weekend letter to its board, giving the company a three-week deadline to either agree to Microsoft’s $31 per share offer to take over the company, or face a hostile takeover at a lower price. In a formal response to Microsoft, Yahoo says it isn’t opposed to a deal with Microsoft, but Microsoft needs to offer more money…although Yahoo doesn’t say how much. .

“Since disclosing our Board’s position with respect to your proposal, we have presented our three-year financial and strategic plan to our stockholders, which supports our Board’s determination that your unsolicited proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo,” the company said in a statement. “We continue to believe that your proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo and our stockholders.”

Recommended Videos

Yahoo says it has also been meeting with its own shareholders and that investors holding a “significant portion” of outstanding shares in the company. According to Yahoo, those investors also feel that Microsoft’s offer undervalues the company; the implication is that those investors would be unlikely to sell their shares to Microsoft in the event the Redmond company takes its takeover proposal directly to shareholders. Yahoo also upbraided the language in Microsoft’s weekend letter, which noted changes in market capitalization and Internet traffic have lowered Yahoo’s overall value to Microsoft since Microsoft made it’s proposal. Yahoo noted those same factors make the value of Microsoft’s takeover offer “significantly lower.”

Yahoo also says Microsoft’s letter “mischaracterizes” talks between the two companies, and that Microsoft’s claims that “no meaningful negotiations” have taken place are untrue. Yahoo says it has discussed regulatory, integration, and antitrust issues with Microsoft, despite having formally rejected Microsoft’s unsolicited takeover offer. Yahoo also personally chided Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, noting he attended two meetings between the companies, and could have “advanced discussions” any way he liked.

Although Yahoo says it is open to the possibility of a Microsoft buy-out, the two companies appear headed for a showdown: Yahoo says it needs to see a better offer, and Microsoft has indicated it is more inclined to reduce the value of its offer, not increase it. Both companies are due to report their quarterly financial results a few days before Microsoft’s April 26 deadline.

Geoff Duncan
Former Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Microsoft Build summary: 4 big announcements you’ll want to know
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during Build 2025

Microsoft Build 2025 is almost at an end. Microsoft's annual developer conference might be aimed at software engineers and cloud devs, but realistically, there's plenty in there to dig into even if you don't work as a programmer. Unsurprisingly, the theme throughout the conference this year (and for some years previous now) has been AI.

In his opening keynote, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the importance of AI and the company's plan of "building the open, agentic web at scale." The idea is to hand over the reins to Copilot and let the AI agents take over repetitive, costly tasks. Here are some of the most important announcements from this year's Microsoft Build.

Read more
Blackmailers, spys, and cheaters beware: Signal cuts off Microsoft screengrab feature
Signal Screen Security

Signal, the popular privacy-centric messaging app, has rolled out a significant update to its Windows 11 desktop client, called “Screen Security” to combat Microsoft’s AI-powered Recall tool from capturing screenshots of users’ private conversation. This move underscores Signals stance on user privacy, following recent publicity from the Trump Administration and attention drawn to how the app is used. According to Bleeping Computer, the Screen Security feature is turned on by default in Windows 11.
Understanding Microsoft’s Recall feature
Microsoft Recall, recently launched on Copilot+ PCs, is an AI-driven tool that periodically captures screenshots of a person’s desktop to create a searchable timeline of past activities. While intended to enhance productivity by allowing people to revisit previous tasks, Recall has sparked privacy concerns due to its broad access to on-screen content, including sensitive information from various applications. Notably, Recall lacks an API that would enable developers to exclude their applications from being captured, leaving privacy-focused apples like Signal vulnerable to unintended data exposure.

Signals proactive privacy measure
In response, Signal’s latest update employs Digital Rights Management (DRM) techniques – similar to those used by streaming services like Netflix or Hulu – to block screen capture attempts. According to Laurent Giret at Thurrott.com, when the Screen Security feature is enabled, any attempt to take a screenshot of the Signal app results in a blank image, effectively shielding conversations from being recorded by Recall or other screenshot tools.

Read more
Microsoft and DOJ deal crushing blow to Lumma malware empire
Person using laptop with security graphics in front.

Microsoft, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), took a major step in dismantling one of the most prolific cybercrime tools currently in circulation. Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) collaborated with the DOJ, Europol, and several global cybersecurity firms to disrupt the Lumma Stealer malware network — a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platform implicated in hundreds of thousands of digital breaches worldwide.

According to Microsoft, Lumma Stealer infected over 394,000 Windows machines between March and mid-May 2025. The malware has been a favored tool amongst cybercriminals for stealing login credentials and sensitive financial information including cryptocurrency wallets. It's been used for extortion campaigns against schools, hospitals, and infrastructure providers. According to the DOJ website, "the FBI has identified at least 1.7 million instances where LummaC2 was used to steal this type of information."

Read more