• The Wall Street Journal/Reuters, Friday, May 9, 2008 11 AM

Microsoft on Thursday released those who agreed to serve as board members in the event of a hostile bid for Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal reported, indicating that the software giant will not be reversing its decision to walk away from the $47 billion deal.

The decision comes amid talk that the parties will reopen negotiations after several large Yahoo shareholders have vented their frustration that a deal wasn't reached. Meanwhile, sources told the Journal that Yahoo shareholders, who are weighing whether to launch their own proxy fight, have now approached members of the Microsoft proxy board. The deadline to nominate an alternate slate is May 15.

However, recent comments made by Microsoft Strategy Officer Craig Mundie suggest that the company may have left the door open for Yahoo to come crawling back. "The market may wish that the Yahoo deal may come back together, but Microsoft at least at this point assumes it's over," Mundie told Reuters. "Yahoo could always come back again and say please buy us for $33 (a share) and I'm sure we might reconsider it but we're not assuming that's going to happen." In other words, our offer of $33 per share still stands, but we're done begging Yahoo to take it.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal/Reuters »