Internet major Yahoo,said it is open to any deal, including a sale to Microsoft, if it benefits shareholders.
NEW YORK: Internet major Yahoo, which has come under attack for sabotaging any potential takeover of the company, on Thursday said it is open to any deal, including a sale to Microsoft, if it benefits shareholders.
Responding strongly to investor Carl Icahn's allegations that Yahoo had sabotaged any takeover bid from Microsoft, the company's Chairman Roy Bostock in a letter on Wednesday said that the billionaire misinterpreted recent facts.
Icahn in a letter on Wednesday termed Yahoo's employment retention plan as a "poison pill".
Yahoo said that his letter seriously misrepresents and manipulates the facts regarding the recent events pertaining to Microsoft and the company.
"You rely on, as 'facts', a series of unsubstantiated allegations from a complaint filed in a Delaware court which grossly misstate the very clear record and position established by the Yahoo Board."
Noting that Icahn is under the impression that Microsoft would come back to the negotiating table for a full acquisition of the firm, Yahoo said it had reached out to the software giant in the last several weeks.
"During this period, their message to us and to the markets has been and remains that they are not interested in pursuing a full acquisition of Yahoo," the letter added.
Describing the claims made on the retention plan as "just plain wrong", Yahoo said the initiative is intended to enhance shareholder value by attracting and retain the best talent.
"Microsoft had indicated that it was prepared to spend 1.5 billion dollars on retention incentives indicating that they too recognised that the retention of Yahoo employees would have been critical if there had been an acquisition," the letter said.
Pointing out that Icahn does not have a credible plan for Yahoo, the letter said there is only a repetition of insistence to sell the company to Microsoft.
"... the only way to salvage Yahoo in the long if not short run is to merge with Microsoft demonstrates that you have no other plan and causes one to wonder what exactly would happen to our company if you and your nominees were to take control of Yahoo," it noted.
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