NEW YORK -- Microsoft Corp.'s pursuit of Yahoo Inc. ended abruptly Saturday when the world's largest software maker withdrew a sweetened $46 billion offer and said it would not make a hostile bid for the Internet company. Microsoft said the breakdown came despite having raised the bid to $33 a share, or $5 billion above what it said was the current value of the offer and a 70% premium compared to its original offer.
The offer was valued at $31 a share when it was made in January. Yahoo stock closed Friday at $28.67 a share.
"After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) do not make sense for us," said Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) CEO Steve Ballmer.
CNN Money [money.cnn.com]
