On Saturday, Microsoft has decided to take back its offer to acquire Yahoo for $42.3 billion. After three months of continuous negotiations, the two companies could not reach an agreement, although unofficial sources said that they came close to it at the end of this week.

It all started on February 1st when Microsoft made a proposal to acquire the outstanding shares of Yahoo common stock for $31 per share consideration, which represents a total equity value of around $44.6 billion. Yahoo’s Board of Directors clearly said that it would not consider any offer lower than $40 per share, which it found to be a fair price.

At the beginning of April, Yahoo Inc. was given three weeks to accept Microsoft Corp's $31-a-share cash-and-stock offer. In the case that the first should have failed to comply, the latter was to turn its $40 billion bid for Yahoo Inc. hostile and lower its offer. Although on Friday, it seemed that a price of around $33 per share came into discussion and that reaching an advantageous solution for both parties was imminent, on Saturday everything fell apart and Microsoft backed away.

Following their decision, Microsoft officials aren’t very worried of what’s ahead: "We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners," Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Chief Executive, said. "While Yahoo would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals," he added.