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No Deal: Microsoft, Yahoo End Talks

 
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    CEO Steve Ballmer & CEO Jerry Yang

    The on-again, off-again talks of a Yahoo!-Microsoft marriage may finally be over.

    Yahoo! (YHOO) disclosed Thursday that discussions with Microsoft (MSFT) regarding a possible transaction have concluded without a deal being reached. Yahoo! said the talks that have ended include an outright acquisition and a partial acquisition. 

    The news, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, sent shares of Yahoo! more than 10% lower and helped lift Google (GOOG) and Microsoft. The Journal also reported that Yahoo! is close to a search advertising deal with rival Google.

    Yahoo! said Thursday that when it met with the company on June 8, Microsoft representatives "stated unequivocally that Microsoft is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo!, even at the price range it had previously suggested." 

    Given those developments, Yahoo! board of directors decided a transaction for the company's search business alone "would not be in the best interests of Yahoo! stockholders." 

    However, Microsoft responded late on Thursday, saying that while it's still not interested in "rebidding" for the whole company, it is leaving the door open to an alternative transaction that "would have delivered in excess of $33 per share to the Yahoo! shareholders." According to the Journal, Microsoft offered $35 per share for 16% of Yahoo as part of an alternative deal. 

    Now that Yahoo! says a deal with Microsoft isn't in the cards, the company is expected to announce a separate deal with Google to outsource its online ad platform to secure additional revenues. 

    The search business was the major reason why Microsoft first unveiled its intent to buy Yahoo! back in late January. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer felt that acquiring Yahoo!, which is the number two search engine behind Google, would be a quick way for the company to bolster its Internet business. 

    The original offer was valued at $44.6 billion and represented a 62% premium on Yahoo!'s share price at the time. However, Yahoo! signaled an unwillingness to be absorbed by the software titan at that price. The ensuing months featured a series of negotiations between the two sides that failed to yield a deal.

    Last month Microsoft withdrew an oral offer of $33 per share, or $47.5 billion, as the talks broke down over price. According to Microsoft, Yahoo! was looking for a deal closer to $37 per share. 

    As Yahoo! came under intense pressure from shareholders who felt CEO Jerry Yang should have taken the offer, the company began talking to Microsoft once again about some kind of business alliance though not an all-out acquisition.

    Much of the pressure put on Yahoo! came the way of billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, who nominated his own slate of directors and made his intent to oust Yang public.

     

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    Marriage Penalty

    Sure, we know some of you are saying the term "marriage penalty" is redundant. In fact, of all the costs associated with getting married (have you seen the cost of a wedding cake lately?), the marriage penalty can be the worst.

    Here's how it works: Mr. and Mrs. Right walk down the aisle in wedded bliss and suddenly they¿re a two-income household. If both make roughly the same amount of money, they can be pushed into a higher tax bracket. That's bad, since the higher the bracket, the higher the tax. So, if both were single, they'd end up writing two smaller checks to the tax man that, if combined, would add up to less than the giant check they write in a state of wedded bliss.

    Is that fair? We're not touching that, but there is a flip side that few people talk about. The marriage penalty only kicks in if both members of the couple make close to the same amount of money. If there's a big disparity in pay, there's actually a tax advantage. Call it the marriage bonus.

    And, it¿s important to remember that there are other financial benefits, such as lower life-insurance rates or health care premiums, that can make up for the extra tax couples pay. So don't let Uncle Sam stop you from saying, "I do."