Microsoft has given Yahoo a three-week deadline to respond to its offer to buy out the internet company for $44.6bn (£22.3bn). If they get no response from Yahoo then Microsoft intend to take the matter directly to the shareholders and let them decide.
Microsoft made their unsolicited bid for Yahoo on January 31st 2008, but Yahoo’s board rejected it as substantially underrating its value. Yahoo has since been in talks with other potential allies but, so far, no deals appear to be on the horizon.
At the time, the Microsoft offer was 62% above the market value of Yahoo.