Is Microsoft finally getting ready to play hard? During the two months of phoney war since the software giant launched its unsolicited offer for Yahoo, it has avoided doing a Larry Ellison. Given the integration and regulatory risks inherent in buying Yahoo, a friendly deal makes more sense than a bloody battle along the lines of those waged by Mr Ellison’s Oracle in recent years.

But the softly, softly approach has made no headway. Microsoft’s latest letter to Yahoo explicitly threatens a proxy fight, and the chance it will reduce the value of its offer (initially pitched at a 62 per cent premium).