DPA
San Francisco, March 14 (DPA) Senior executives from Microsoft and Yahoo met for the first time this week to discuss Microsoft’s takeover offer for the internet company, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The meeting reportedly took place Monday near Yahoo’s headquarters in Silicon Valley and was the first face-to-face talks between the two companies since Microsoft tabled its unsolicited bid for Yahoo on Jan 31.

Yahoo’s board last month rejected Microsoft’s $41 billion offer as undervalued, and took steps to prevent Microsoft from going straight to shareholders via a proxy battle. The cash-and-stock offer was initially valued at $44.6 billion, a 62 percent premium over where Yahoo shares traded the day before the announcement.

Since then, a 12 percent decline in Microsoft shares has reduced the total value of the offer to $41.9 billion, or $29.11 a share.

The meeting was not categorised as a formal negotiation session and no bankers were present. It was also unclear whether company chief executives Jerry Yang and Steve Ballmer participated.

The report said the session marked a breakthrough in communications between the two camps and was intended to allow Microsoft to present its vision of a combined company.
DPA