Yahoo!, the under-siege internet group, has received a string of tentative approaches, giving it hope that it could put together a deal that would allow it to rebuff Microsoft’s $45 billion (£22.7 billion) hostile bid.

The proposals, understood to be from media, telecoms and private equity groups, are all at an early stage, and it is far from clear that any will lead to a larger, outright cash bid for the ailing internet group. Many involve combinations short of a full takeover.

That level of initial interest is allowing Yahoo! to say it needs to take some time, in conjunction with advisers Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, to evaluate its options. But it is clear the internet company is trying to explore alternatives to a takeover by Microsoft that many believe it does not want.

Google is among those showing interest, despite the obvious regulatory issues that a combination of their search engines would raise. Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, is understood to have telephoned his counterpart at Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, on Friday to offer his company’s help to its smaller rival. It is not known what form such help would take.

On Sunday, Google said in an internet blog that it had concerns about how a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo! would affect competition. Those comments were intended to signal to the Yahoo! board that they should not capitulate yet.

Microsoft, meanwhile, is trying to force the pace. It said yesterday that it expects the Yahoo! board to recommend its $45 billion cash and shares offer quickly, after giving warning over the weekend that it would use its small shareholding in its target to put shareholder resolutions demanding that its directors step down if they do not accept the offer.

The hostile approach values Yahoo! at a 62 per cent premium to the closing share price last Thursday — the day before the proposal was made public.

That premium would normally be hard to resist, but Yahoo! is pinning its hopes on the industry’s volatility, in which major, valuable companies — such as Google or, more recently, Facebook — can be generated in a period as short as two years. The thinking is that Yahoo! investors may be convinced that an alternative could take the company beyond $31 a share in an acceptable period.

Microsoft also said it is planning to borrow funds for the first time in its history to meet the $22 billion (£11 billion) cash element of its offer.

Even though the computer giant had $21.1 billion worth of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet on December 31, just shy of the total cash portion of its hostile takeover offer, Chris Liddell, financial officer at Microsoft, said yesterday: “It’s going to be a mixture of the cash we have on hand plus debt.”

Mr Liddell refused to be drawn on what form the debt would take or how much it was seeking to raise.

While Microsoft is approaching Wall Street in the midst of the toughest credit markets in years, the computer company’s robust cashflow should mean it can secure low-interest costs to service the debt.

Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo! because it needs to compete more effectively with Google, the world’s largest internet company.

At issue is the $40 billion-a-year online advertising market, which is expected to double within two years. Google has been increasing its dominant share of the market.

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