May 3, 2008 9:37 PM PDT

Report: A peek behind the Yahoo-Microsoft meltdown

Posted by Dawn Kawamoto

Curious how Microsoft's multi-multi-multi-billion dollar buyout bid for Yahoo sputtered, then crashed?

Kara Swisher's BoomTown column in All Things Digital has an interesting account of the missteps, sidesteps, and other goings on between the parties over the past several weeks.

Here's some nuggets from Swisher's post:

April 15 - Yahoo trotted out its financial strategy dog-and-pony show in Portland, Ore., to Microsoft. Trouble is, they remained mum on a valuation for the Internet search pioneer.

April 18 - The magic figure of $40 a share is revealed during a conference call with the companies' bankers and advisors. That went over like a ton of bricks and the software giant begins to craft plans for a proxy fight.

April 29 - Seeking to keep Microsoft from going hostile with a proxy fight, Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang and chairman Roy Bostock held two phone calls with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, where they offered up other deal alternatives to a merger, such as a search partnership.

April 30 - Yang offers up $38 per share to clinch the deal, during a face-to-face meeting in Silicon Valley. Yang continues to raise the issue of possible anti-trust regulatory rope hanging a Microhoo deal. Also suggested a deal like Google's adSearch test.

May 3 - Yang, joined by his college bud and Yahoo co-founder David Filo, meet Ballmer and Microsoft executive Kevin Johnson in Seattle. Microsoft upped its offer to $33 per share and Yang came down to $37 a share. But the kicker was Yang's threat: If Microsoft launched a proxy fight, Yahoo would pursue a Google deal to outsource its online ad business.

And so, it concluded with a see ya from Microsoft, which officially withdrew its offer...maybe as Yang and Filo were boarding their return flight home...