Microsoft earmark $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees
Microsoft has put aside $1.5 billion to keep on Yahoo employees should their proposed takeover succeed, reports Reuters.
Yahoo currently employs 13,800 staff after laying off around 1,000 of its workforce in February.
The existence of the $1.5 billion fund came to light in court documents filed in a shareholder suit against Yahoo over claims the board has not acted in good faith to shareholders in responding to the $44.6 billion Microsoft offer.
With the threat of a proxy battle over the future ownership of Yahoo looming, it was revealed last month that Yahoo are to offer employees improved severance packages to ward off fears of post-takeover layoffs - though the $1.5 billion figure is unrelated to this.
Yahoo has denied that there are any more job losses in the pipeline, with Yahoo lawyer Edward Welch stating there are “… no more reductions in force planned for the future,”
Growing speculation
The speculation over how the Microsoft-Yahoo takeover deal will pan out continues in earnest - TechCrunch even claims to know the identities of eight of the people who Microsoft will propose to replace the current Yahoo board.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal predicts that Microsoft could make its next move in the takeover battle as early as next week, with the nomination of a new proxy board of directors the most likely outcome.
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