As I have previously stated before that the Microsoft bidding for Yahoo! reminds me of an episode of Futurama titled “Future Stock“. I am such a Futurama geek. The (evil) Momcorp was going to buy out Planet Express, Inc. and the stockholders of both companies must approve the take-over.
Are there any relevance between this Futurama episode and Microsoft’s bid to take-over Yahoo!? (That’s a bit tricky, the exclamation point in Yahoo! and the question mark at the end of the sentence which is a question.)
- Futurama is great, just like Bender, who is great.
- Shareholders from both Microsoft and Yahoo! must approve such take-over; similar to what shareholders of Momcorp and Planet Express, Inc. had to do.
Now, after a poor excuse for mentioning Futurama over and over again, let’s see what went on so far.
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
Microsoft’s cash on hand was estimated at 21 Billion Dollars, and they were offering Yahoo! 44.6 Billion Dollars in cash and stocks.
Yahoo! rejects Microsoft’s takeover bid
Yahoo! shares rose from $19.18 to $28.38 on February 1st after Microsoft announced their take-over bid. Meanwhile, Microsoft shares dropped from $32.60 to $30.45 on the same period.
Yahoo! Board of Directors Says Microsoft’s Proposal Substantially Undervalues Yahoo!
Yahoo! Board did not explicitly reject Microsoft’s proposal.
Now let’s see here. Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo! shares at $31 per share. It was a sweet deal when Yahoo! shares was still at $19.18 per share. On February 1st, Microsoft’s offer is only 8.45% higher than the value of Yahoo! shares. There has been some whispers that Yahoo! is holding out for $40 per share to approve Microsoft’s take-over bid.
Major Yahoo investor urges Microsoft to raise offer
Yep, a major Yahoo! shareholder wants to see payday, at $40 per share. Who doesn’t like making profit on the stock market?
Hypothetically, if Yahoo! shareholders wanted this take-over to happen (like this one), there would still be a lot of hurdles for Microsoft to make it happen. Microsoft would have a tougher time to convince their own shareholders to approve this take-over. Yahoo! take-over seemed to be a bad financial move for Microsoft. Can Microsoft actually afford Yahoo! without breaking their bank? What are Microsoft’s shareholders saying regarding this Yahoo! take-over. SmartMoney says that “Microsoft Shareholders to Pay High Price for Yahoo“.
I am not a financial analyst, but I am a huge Futurama fan. Based on what I learned from Futurama’s “Future Stock”, shareholders from both company must approve the take-over. If that held true, then maybe Microsoft shareholder might be the one who would stop Steve Ballmer and his pals from driving Microsoft over the cliff, metaphorically.
Let’s see how this play out.
Disclaimer: I do not own a single stock because I don’t have the cash or the guts to gamble, but I make stupid stock predictions for other people.
Known Fact: Bender is Great! So send email to Bender – bender@ilovebender.com
