Yahoo! rejects another Microsoft offer

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 13 (UPI) -- Yahoo! says it has rejected a renewed proposal by Microsoft to buy the company's Internet search business, sources say.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the offer made by Microsoft's chief executive, Steven Ballmer, and investor Carl Icahn, was similar to an earlier offer the Santa Clara, Calif., Internet company rejected.

Under the latest offer, Yahoo! was to have sold its search business to Microsoft and Icahn, who is waging a campaign to unseat Yahoo!'s board, would have taken over the remaining parts of the company.

"It is ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal," Yahoo!'s chairman, Roy Bostock, said in a statement. "While this type of erratic and unpredictable behavior is consistent with what we have come to expect from Microsoft, we will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interests of our stockholders."

Yahoo! reiterated it was open to a sale of the whole company at $33 a share, a price that Microsoft had once offered.