Microsoft Holds to Tough Yahoo! Stance

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft(MSFT Quote) sent strong signals on its conference call Thursday that Yahoo!(YHOO Quote) investors should not hold out for more.

While Yahoo! has recently put forward lofty growth and valuation perspectives in an effort to extract a higher bid, "we see the opposite" as Yahoo! continues to lose search market share, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said.

Yahoo!'s most recent quarterly results were only in line with the guidance given in January, after which investors at the time took the stock down to close at $19.05, he added.

"We've been clear that speed is of the essence" to Microsoft's growth strategy for the online advertising and search markets, Liddell said. But Yahoo!s response to Microsoft's attempt to acquire its rival "has been anything but speedy" due to its unrealistic view of its corporate value, he added.

The rationale often given for why Microsoft should increase its bid price of $31 a share -- simply that we can afford to -- is not one that I favor," Liddell said.

Expectations that Microsoft would signal its next move was high. Liddell noted that twice the number of investors than usual were listening to the call. Microsoft has set a deadline of Saturday for Yahoo! to accept its $31 cash-and-stock offer.

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that CEO Steve Ballmer said Thursday in Milan that the company has no plans to boost its cash-and-stock offer and called the $44.6 billion at which the original bid was valued "a lot of money." He said Microsoft is "prepared to move forward alone without Yahoo."