NEW YORK (Reuters) – A major investor in Yahoo Inc has met withMicrosoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to see if he would raise a$42 billion unsolicited offer for the company, the New York Postreported on Friday.
Capital Research and Management, which owns more than 11 percent ofYahoo shares and more than 6 percent of Microsoft, wants to know howmuch more the software maker might pay if Yahoo rejects the initialoffer, the Post said, citing a source familiar with the meeting.
Officials for Capital Research and Microsoft declined comment on the report.
Separately, the TechCrunch blog said Yahoo’s board is due to meet onFriday to discuss the bid. Citing unnamed sources, the report saidYahoo advisors favor a deal, despite the interest of some executives toseek an alternative tie-up with Web search leader Google Inc.
A Yahoo spokeswoman said the company’s board was still "carefullyand thoroughly evaluating" the Microsoft offer but would not comment onwhen its board plans to meet. Microsoft made its offer public onFebruary 1.
Analysts have said Microsoft could be persuaded to raise its cashand stock bid, now worth about $29 per share based on Microsoft’s shareprice on Friday, to make it easier for Yahoo co-founder and CEO JerryYang and his board to accept it.
Yahoo shares fell 9 cents to $28.95 on the Nasdaq. Microsoft shares rose 1.8 percent to $28.62.
(Reporting by Michele Gershberg in New York, Daisuke Wakabayashi inSeattle and Muralikumar Anantharaman in Boston; editing by PhilBerlowitz)
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