Microsoft: If you can't buy em, beat em

Microsoft is apparently taking the next steps in its bid to buy Yahoo! A few weeks ago the Yahoo! board of directors rejected Microsoft's $31 per share bid, saying that it undervalued Yahoo! at $44.6 billion. The general consensus was that Yahoo! would be plenty happy to be taken over by Microsoft -- for a higher price. But Microsoft instead has taken a different approach: Try to replace Yahoo!'s board of directors.

Microsoft is expected to spend between $20 and $30 million to nominate a new board of directors and try to convince Yahoo! shareholders to elect the group. While that might seem like a lot of money, it's a lot cheaper than raising the bid price.

On the other hand, with both Microsoft and Yahoo! stock falling, the original bid's value has already dropped a few billion. Maybe Microsoft just needs to wait until Yahoo! stock hits bargain basement prices before making another offer.

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