Yahoo releases upbeat two-year forecast

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc. has released a rosy outlook for the next two years, hoping to give investors a better understanding why the slumping Internet pioneer isn’t willing to sell to Microsoft Corp. for less than $45 billion.

Analysts interpreted the company’s unscheduled disclosure Tuesday as a sign that Yahoo’s attempts to find an alternative deal to Microsoft’s 6 ½-week-old offer aren’t bearing fruit.

The Sunnyvale-based company has been exploring alliances with Google Inc., News Corp.’s MySpace.com and Time Warner Inc.’s AOL.

With its options apparently narrowing, Yahoo is under pressure to justify its board’s decision last month to rebuff a takeover offer that was 62 percent higher than the company’s market value when the courtship began.

Microsoft’s cash-and-stock bid was initially valued at $44.6 billion, or $31 a share – a price that Yahoo concluded wasn’t enough, even though it came after a two-year decline in the company’s profit.