Corporate raider Carl Icahn, seen here in 2006, has said that Microsoft indicated a willingness to reopen talks on a "major transaction" with Yahoo if the Internet giant replaces its board of directors.

Corporate raider Carl Icahn said Monday that Microsoft indicated a willingness to reopen talks on a "major transaction" with Yahoo if the Internet giant replaces its board of directors.

Icahn made his comments in an open letter to Yahoo shareholders nearly a month after the California company said negotiations on a tie-up with Microsoft were apparently dead.

The US billionaire, who has amassed a stake in Yahoo and is seeking to oust the company's board, said he had in the past week "spoken frequently" with Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and others at the world's biggest software firm.

"Our talks centered on the industry in general but, more importantly, on how Yahoo and Microsoft can do a transaction together" Icahn said.

"Steve made it abundantly clear that, due to his experiences with Yahoo during the past several months, he cannot negotiate any transaction with the current board."

But Icahn noted that "Steve made it clear to me that if a new board were elected, he would be interested in discussing a major transaction with Yahoo, such as either a transaction to purchase the 'Search' function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company."

Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 44.6 billion dollars in stock and cash on January 31, but withdrew the offer on May 3, saying Yahoo refused to budge despite the software giant upping its offer to nearly 50 billion dollars.

Later, Microsoft announced that it had reopened negotiations with Yahoo on "an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo."

© 2008 AFP