Yahoo mulling 'many options'

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Struggling Internet giant Yahoo is not ready to sell itself to Microsoft just yet - at least that's what Yahoo's chief executive Jerry Yang told his employees Friday.

In an e-mail addressed to "fellow yahoos," Yang and non-executive chairman Roy Bostock said that they continue to weigh the best options for the company but that "absolutely no decisions have been made."

"You can be sure the board is going to review it thoughtfully and carefully, and do what's right for our great company," they said in the e-mail, which was disclosed in a SEC filing Monday.

Microsoft offered Yahoo an unsolicited bid of $45 billion for the company on Friday. Both Microsoft and Yahoo have fallen behind rival Google in the lucrative field of Internet search, and Yahoo recently announced layoffs, low earnings and a disappointing 2008 revenue forecast.

But according to Yang, Yahoo is not ready to settle on Microsoft's offer, as the Internet company is entertaining other options.

"Microsoft's proposal is one of many options that we're evaluating in order to maximize value for our shareholders and employees over the long-term," Yang wrote in the e-mail. "That's why we will respond to Microsoft after our board has completed a careful review of all of our strategic alternatives."

One of the possible "strategic alternatives" could be a deal from Google (GOOG, Fortune 500). According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt contacted Yang to offer whatever Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) needed to prevent a Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) takeover of Yahoo.