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"We think it's a generous one," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, speaking at the US firm's annual conference with analysts, said of the bid announced on Friday.
The offer represents a large 62 percent premium on Yahoo's closing share price Thursday.
"We trust the Yahoo board and the Yahoo shareholders will join with us quickly in deciding to move down an integrated path," Ballmer said.
Microsoft, the world's leading software maker, announced the bid for the Internet portal in a strategy aimed at competing with Google, the top Internet company.
"We wanted this offer to be attractive to Yahoo shareholders," said Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer.
"We want to close this acquisition by the end of this year," he added.
Yahoo has remained cautious in response, saying it would study the unsolicited offer closely.
The move comes as Yahoo is losing ground rapidly in the Internet space to Google, the search leader which has cashed in to the market for online advertising.
Google protested Microsoft's bid yesterday as a threat to the Internet itself.
"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," read a statement by David Drummon, Google's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer.
Source: DDNEWS
Posted February 6th, 2008 by Armen Hareyan
