Hey, looks like now it’s an official *hostile takeover* attempt from Microsoft in the battle for the internet giant Yahoo.

Yahoo declined Microsoft’s offer of last week and in this press release Microsoft basically declares their intention to duke it out.    I’m surprised they have not upped the ante yet, but perhaps they are waiting for more drama and information before making a “final” offer to the Yahoo board before taking this directly to Yahoo shareholders.    Although I think most shareholders would take the MS offer it’s clear the *big* shareholders like Jerry Yang don’t want to, so perhaps Yahoo can win a proxy battle for the company.    I have a hunch however that the institutional investors, and the legions of small time folks like me, would jump at a 34+ offer and probably even take the current one unless Yahoo shows a lot more signs of life than screaming out the current rallying cry “We are fighting Microsoft!”