People involved in relationships that end abruptly often have grossly conflicting accounts of what went wrong. On Monday, Jerry Yang gave his version.
In an interview, Mr. Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder and chief executive, addressed Microsoft’s surprise $44.6 billion bid to buy his company and the three-month corporate tussle that ensued.
He said he was open to selling Yahoo to Microsoft all along, but that Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, and his deal makers ultimately declined to negotiate and withdrew their proposal on Saturday with little explanation.
“They chose to walk away after we put a price on the table, and they didn’t want to negotiate,” Mr. Yang said. “From my perspective, we were open all along to selling to Microsoft. We just feel Yahoo, either stand-alone or with Microsoft, is worth more than what they put on the table.”
Mr. Yang’s account conflicts with that of Microsoft’s advisers and executives. They have said that they received no counteroffer from Yahoo for three months, after Microsoft’s deadline to consummate the deal had expired. They also say that Mr. Yang and his board settled on a price of $37 a share and ultimately refused to budge.
Microsoft had raised its initial bid to $33 a share when Mr. Yang and his co-founder, David Filo, met with Mr. Ballmer and other Microsoft executives at the Seattle airport on Saturday. After that meeting, Mr. Ballmer made public a letter to Mr. Yang withdrawing the offer. “I am disappointed that Yahoo has not moved towards accepting our offer,” he wrote.
In the interview Monday, Mr. Yang and Roy Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, said that throughout the process they were open and receptive to a merger with Microsoft. Mr. Yang said that he spent personal time alone with Mr. Ballmer but that they were ultimately unable to bridge their differences.
Mr. Yang also looked ahead to the daunting task of guiding Yahoo’s growth as an independent company — under heavy scrutiny. Mr. Yang — who last June took control of the company he co-founded, acting after the departure of the prior chief, Terry Semel — must now quickly demonstrate that Yahoo can increase its revenues and share price while navigating an online advertising industry that is quickly coming to be dominated by Google.