#rb_bodyWrap .left_content h2{font-family:Georgia, serif;} #right_content .topics ul.topics_list{padding-right:4px;} #rb_bodyWrap div#right_content td,#rb_bodyWrap div#right_content tr,#rb_bodyWrap div#right_content tbody,#rb_bodyWrap div#right_content table, #rb_bodyWrap ul.topics_list, ul.topics_list li {vertical-align:top;} #rb_bodyWrap div#right_content td{padding:4px;} #rb_bodyWrap #right_content h4{font-family:Georgia, serif;color:#990000;} div#storyMeta{font-size:115%;} #contentMain a:hover{color:#990000;} #rb_bodyWrap #right_content table{font-size:105%} Microsoft/Yahoo PageVars.set('title', escape("Year in review: The Microhoo Saga")); PageVars.set('description', escape("With no Microsoft deal, the beleaguered Yahoo slams the door on a dramatic 2008 and throws away the key.")); PageVars.set('href', "http://news.cnet.com/2009-1024_3-6248360.html"); Yahoo slams door on '08, throws away key By Dawn Kawamoto Staff Writer, CNET News Published: December 17, 2008, 4:00 AM PST Print E-mail Share cnet_news406:http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F2009-1024_3-6248360.html By all accounts, it's been a hellish year for Yahoo and its CEO Jerry Yang. A battle over the Microsoft buyout bid, a , a game of chicken with , and finally, a , have all left Yahoo and Yang ready to tell Father Time goodnight. What a year it's been for Yahoo. The company took center stage in the technology sector, grabbing headlines left and right with each twist and turn in its various battles. The in February when Microsoft announced its unsolicited buyout bid valued at $31 a share, or $44.6 billion. That quickly drove Yahoo's share price from its slumbering $19 range to as high as $30.25, as investors began frothing at the mouth. But Yahoo issued a public rejection two weeks later, saying the deal undervalued the company. For the next six weeks, various members of Yahoo's management team talked with Microsoft execs, but never in a formalized fashion. Frustrated by the lack of progress with the talks, and aware Yahoo was out seeking a white knight, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo's board --do the deal within a three-week deadline, or face a proxy fight, a possible lowering of the offer, or an abandonment of the deal. That with no response from Yahoo. In the following days, the parties set up their now , where Yang and co-founder David Filo met with Ballmer and crew. Photo collage credit: Dan Farber/CNET News The Microhoo drama played out in real life and in our imagination. There at the meeting, Ballmer upped the buyout price to $33 a share, to which Yang countered with $37 a share and also a threat that Yahoo would initiate a search advertising deal with Google if Microsoft waged a proxy fight. That negotiation session was the last between the companies for a full buyout of Yahoo. With that deal kaput, Yahoo shareholder activist Carl Icahn entered the picture less than two weeks later, to unseat Yahoo's current board. Icahn, as well as a number of other large Yahoo investors, were fuming that the deal had been lost and were ready to charge like raging bulls. Several days later, Microsoft re-emerged on the scene with an offer to acquire . That deal, however, was rejected. By mid-June, Yahoo announced that Microsoft was no longer interested in acquiring the company and that it would, instead, partner with rival Google on search advertising. Yahoo's stock took a hit on the news. A month later, to again make a partial bid for just Yahoo's search business. That deal, too, was shot down. In the backdrop of the drama, Yahoo's shareholder meeting date was fast approaching and would give Icahn a chance to try to unseat Yahoo's existing board and convince shareholders to elect his slate. But before it got to that point, Icahn and Yahoo that called for Icahn and two of the members from his dissident slate to join Yahoo's board of directors. Yahoo was able to avert the Icahn crisis. But as that wound down, another fight was brewing on the antitrust front. The U.S. Department of Justice decided to investigate Yahoo's , which had been put on hold until regulators could determine whether it would violate antitrust laws. Yahoo's ad customers, via the Association of National Advertisers, had also . After numerous meetings and various proposals to change the agreement, Yahoo and Google ultimately walked away from the deal when the DOJ informed the companies in early November it would file a lawsuit to . Yahoo's plans to generate as much as $800 million in revenues from Google in the first year of the partnership disappeared with the deal. Less than two weeks later--in mid-November--Yahoo announced that as soon a replacement is found. The co-founder of the Internet search pioneer, however, will remain on the company's board and resume his title as "Chief Yahoo." And so 2008 ends on a "no" note: no Microsoft deal, no Google deal, and soon, no CEO with the last name of Yang. 2008 Highlights Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo The offer--described by Yahoo as "unsolicited"--amounts to $31 per share, or a 62 percent premium above its closing stock price. February 1, 2008 Yahoo rejects Microsoft's bid Board unanimously concludes that Microsoft's half-stock, half-cash offer "substantially undervalues" Yahoo. Yang's follow-up letter to Yahoo staffers. February 11, 2008 more highlights below Here's the full text of a letter Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wrote to Yahoo's board of directors threatening a proxy fight and lower bid if Yahoo doesn't make a decision about Microsoft's offer in three weeks. April 5, 2008 Despite last-minute talks amid an increased offer from Microsoft, the two sides could not strike a deal. May 3, 2008 Microsoft didn't value Yahoo highly enough, Yahoo said after Microsoft's withdrew its acquisition offer. Yang calls the episode a "distraction" that's "behind us now." May 3, 2008 Billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn announces a 10-member proxy slate and is seeking antitrust clearance to acquire up to another $2.5 billion in Yahoo shares. May 15, 2008 Microsoft announces it has issued another proposal to Yahoo that calls for an acquisition of some but not all of Yahoo's assets. May 18, 2008 Internet company says Microsoft is no longer willing to pay $33 a share for the company. A Yahoo-Google search deal is imminent, a source tells CNET News.com. June 12, 2008 Google will supply Yahoo with search ads in a partnership Yahoo believes will raise revenue by $800 million in its first year--but that also could give more power to Google. June 12, 2008 The call goes out for Yahoo investors to oust the current board and elect Carl Icahn's dissident slate instead. Microsoft says yeah, we'd talk with a new board. July 7, 2008 Yahoo issues a statement rejecting joint-proposal by Microsoft and Carl Icahn to buy the Yahoo's search business. July 13, 2008 The activist investor, who plans to recommend two more directors and withdraw his other nominees, will be included in a board expansion to 11 members. July 21, 2008 Association of National Advertisers announces it has sent a letter to the top antitrust chief for the U.S. Department of Justice, issuing its objections to the controversial Yahoo-Google search ad partnership. September 7, 2008 Google and Yahoo are already familiar names. But soon, hired gun Sandy Litvack may be too, should this long-time antitrust attorney and consultant to the Department of Justice pursue a case against the companies. September 12, 2008 Google gives up the partnership, shying away from the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit threat and possible damage to its advertiser relations. Yahoo isn't happy. November 5, 2008 Jerry Yang will step back to his chief Yahoo role as soon as a successor is found for the CEO role, Yahoo announces. November 17, 2008 Shares of the company free-fall following comments by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that the software giant is not interested in a Yahoo acquisition. November 19, 2008 Microsoft officially names the former Yahoo search executive. In the process, however, Microsoft is losing top ad executive Brian McAndrews. December 4, 2008 Additional headlines