Yahoo! and Microsoft Extend Negotiation Period (YHOO, MSFT)

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) issued an SEC filing noting that it and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) have extended the negotiating time on the previously announced search pact.  Without getting to participate in the drawing room for the negotiations it is impossible to know if there were real snags other than the usual gossip that comes and goes or if it is simply nothing more than just needing more time to complete the documents.  Here is a broken down excerpt from the Yahoo! SEC Filing:

• On October 28, 2009, Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation mutually agreed to extend the period to negotiate and execute a Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and a License Agreement reflecting and supplementing the provisions of such agreements as set forth in annexes to their binding letter agreement dated July 29, 2009. The Letter Agreement specified that the parties would execute Definitive Agreements by October 27, 2009, but given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized. The parties are working diligently on finalizing the agreements, have made good progress to date, and have agreed to execute the agreements as expeditiously as possible. The Letter Agreement was the subject of a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by Yahoo! on August 4, 2009.

It is probably too soon to read anything overly sinister into this, particularly as this was the Yahoo! analyst day.   And if you just take the release word for word, then this may just be a mere formality.  And there is always the notion that if a significant issue had come up that there would have been much more disclosure than just a one paragraph SEC filing as a Reg. FD event.  Delays are rather common in contracts and complex business transactions.

That full filing is available here, although there is effectively nothing different in there than above.

JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 28, 2009