Microsoft ready for a Yahoo scrum

What comes next in Microsoft’s (MSFT) quest for Yahoo (YHOO)? At The New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin profiles Chris Liddell, a former investment banker who is now chief financial officer at Microsoft and the architect of the company’s unsolicited $42 billion cash-and-stock bid. In the wake of reports this past weekend that Yahoo’s board will reject Microsoft’s proposal as inadequate, the Times lays out some possible responses from Redmond, Wash. It says Microsoft is planning to meet with big Yahoo shareholders in an effort to pressure the Yahoo board into accepting the current deal, which is now worth just over $29 a share in cash and stock.

If that doesn’t work, the Times notes, Microsoft could raise its bid, set a deadline for its offer or start a proxy fight - though the last two sound more likely, since Microsoft is likely to believe a 62% premium to recent Yahoo trading prices is substantial enough. As Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky pointed out last week, the companies “are simply in different leagues as far as overall sophistication goes” - so it’s hard to imagine that Microsoft will let its next move be dictated by the Yahoo board’s efforts to force a higher offer. Liddell, a rugby player and triathlete, also makes a comment that seems intended to scare Yahoo shareholders, given the sharp rise in their stock since Microsoft made its move and the dearth of alternative offers. “You have to be willing to walk away,” Liddell tells the Times.