Microsoft is “prepared to move forward without Yahoo,” CEO Steve Ballmer said Wednesday, speaking in Milan. Noting that $44.6 billion is “a lot of money,” Ballmer said Microsoft does not plan to increase its offer from its intial offer in January. Originally worth $31 a share, the offer is now worth about $30.45 based on Microsoft’s share price.
“Today Google has the lead, there’s no doubt about it and I wanna make sure that they have plenty of competition,” Ballmer said. “We think the best way to move that forward quickly is to come together with Yahoo. I hope that it works, but if it doesn’t we go forward alone.”
On April 5, Microsoft told Yahoo it had three weeks to agree to that offer or face hostile takeover actions. That deadline is this Saturday and Ballmer’s speech fueled speculation that Redmond is rethinking whether the acquisition of Yahoo justifies the additional costs associated with a proxy fight and tender offer.
Many executives and ordinary workers are opposed to the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported. While the opposition is not yet leading Ballmer to abandon the deal, his speech suggests he his “hedging his bets,” the Journal said.
Ballmer was also hedging his bets on Windows Vista, the troubled successor to Windows XP. While consumer sales are strong, since Vista comes pre-installed on new PCs, the enterprise’s response thus far has been tepid. Internet petititions to “Save XP” have gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures. Microsoft is due to stop selling XP on June 30 but Ballmer suggested XP sales could be extended.
“XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments,” Ballmer said. “In the…