Yahoo faces seven shareholder suits

Sunnyvale: Search engine pioneer, Yahoo Inc., is facing seven different shareholder lawsuits prompted by the company's botched response to Microsoft's unsolicited takeover bid.

Yahoo's annual report filed Wednesday gave a breakdown of the seven suits. No news information regarding the February Microsoft offer was shared.

Shareholders of Yahoo Inc. have filed five suits alleging that Yahoo's board breached its duty by failing to negotiate a better deal before rejecting Microsoft's offer.

The other two claim that Yahoo showed unfair favouritism towards Microsoft's bid despite the board's eventual rebuff.

Microsoft offered a $44.6 billion bid, at $31 per share, to take over Yahoo Inc., an offer which Yahoo's board felt was insufficient. Microsoft has since suggested that a hostile takeover may be necessary if a friendly deal is not reached.
A decline of 13% in Microsoft's stock has now reduced the bid value to $40 billion.

Yahoo is currently exploring other options to provide shareholders with a better payoff than Microsoft's offer, one of which involves combining forces with MySpace.com's owner News Corp., or forming an alliance with search giant Google Inc.

According to most analysts, Yahoo will end up going to Microsoft.