Microsoft has all but shut the door on the prospect of resuming talks to buy all or part of Yahoo!. Speaking at the company’s annual meeting for analysts on July 24, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said a Yahoo deal at this point “essentially makes no sense.”If Yahoo is no longer the remedy for Microsoft’s ailing online operations, what is? The software giant spent part of the day trying to persuade analysts that it’s got something better in mind. Yet with Wall Street growing increasingly impatient to see results from its online operations, Microsoft gave only a glimpse into what to expect in terms of ongoing spending and returns. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said the company plans to continue spending 5% to 10% of operating income, a modest amount relative to the potential returns, he argued. And those returns could hit 20% to 40% if Microsoft is successful, Liddell said, though he didn’t disclose a time frame for when that might happen.
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2008/tc20080724_447840.htm
Microsoft: What Web Strategy?
Microsoft has all but shut the door on the prospect of resuming talks to buy all or part of Yahoo!. Speaking at the company’s annual meeting for analysts on July 24, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said a Yahoo deal at this point “essentially makes no sense.”