Having earlier told Microsoft no, now Yahoo has explained to its shareholders why it declined to be purchased. The full letter can be found here. Below, some highlights.

• Yahoo’s board is "continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!’s strategic options"
   
• Yahoo is has a "unique combination of strengths," including a strong brand, many popular online services, a leader in display advertising, a leader in search advertising, mobile, and online video.
   
• Yahoo plans to grow key properties by 15 percent per year, over the next several years.
   
• Yahoo is working to make itself a "must buy" for advertisers.

Unlike past letters to employees that CEO Jerry Yang has sent, this one to his shareholders is in upper case.

For our past coverage on Microsoft’s move on Yahoo, including yesterday’s layoffs, see our Microhoo archives. For commentary across the web on the letter, see here on Techmeme.

Related Topics: Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Yahoo: Business Issues

About The Author: Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan