As a variety of forces swirl to push Yahoo and Microsoft back into each other's arms, some Yahoo shareholders are reportedly pushing for a deal that would see Microsoft acquire Yahoo's search business along with a larger stake, while paying less for Microsoft's shares than was previously offered.
According to a report by All Things D's Kara Swisher, some Yahoo shareholders have floated a proposal that Microsoft acquire a third or more of the company at somewhere between $30 and $32 a share.
As part of the search deal that Yahoo rejected, Microsoft offered to pay $35 a share, but was only offering to buy 16 percent of the company. Yahoo then inked a deal with Google, although that deal is non-exclusive and the parties said they were delaying implementation of the deal for 3 1/2 months to allow for antitrust issues.
News.com first reported on Monday that Yahoo-Microsoft talks were back on and on Wednesday reported that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was weighing the issue. Swisher says her sources say that Microsoft is drawing up a new search proposal, but that formal talks have not taken place.
When Microsoft was looking to buy all of Yahoo, it initially offered $31 a share back in February and later hiked its bid to $33 a share.
