Icahn Getty Images YAHOO STOCK YAHOO STOCK Yahoo stock over 5 years. SAN FRANCISCO  Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn's latest salvo in his escalating war against Yahoo's board put a new price tag on the embattled company, and intensified pressure on Yahoo as it approaches its annual shareholders meeting. In a scathing letter he sent to Yahoo (YHOO) Chairman Roy Bostock on Friday, Icahn wants Yahoo to tell Microsoft (MSFT) it's willing to be sold for $49.5 billion, about $2 billion above Microsoft's last offer for the Internet pioneer. "Why don't you stop dancing around the subject and publicly offer to sell the company to Microsoft for $34.375 per share and promise to cooperate completely?" Icahn said in a strongly worded letter. Yahoo said declaring an acceptable sales price for the company would be "ill-advised." Microsoft declined comment. It withdrew an oral offer of $47.5 billion, or $33 a share, last month after Yang asked for $37 per share. Icahn's letter was the latest volley in an increasingly nasty campaign to force Yahoo's sale. In another letter on Wednesday, Icahn made it clear he wants Yahoo's board replaced and CEO Jerry Yang fired unless the company works out a deal with Microsoft before Yahoo's annual shareholders meeting on Aug. 1. Icahn, who carved a reputation as a ruthless corporate raider in the 1980s and later reinvented himself as a shareholder activist in recent years, was particularly miffed by what he claimed was a provision by Yahoo that would add more than $2 billion to the cost of a takeover. In his letter Wednesday, Icahn accused Yahoo's management and board of putting themselves ahead of their shareholders. Some tech analysts say Icahn is merely softening up Yahoo in the weeks leading up to its shareholders meeting in San Jose, Calif. If Yahoo staves off Icahn, it faces a torrent of lawsuits from disgruntled shareholders, says Jonathan Yarmis, an analyst at AMR Research. "I'll bet after the shareholders meeting — if there's no deal done — you'd have a hard time booking a hotel room in Wilmington, Del., as plaintiffs lawyers line up to file their lawsuits," Yarmis says. Ultimately, Icahn's end game is simple, Yarmis and others say. "It's quick money. Nothing more, nothing less," Yarmis says. "(Icahn) has to make Yahoo think that the path of least risk is doing something large with, or selling to, Microsoft. I still don't think a deal for the whole enchilada is out of the question." Yahoo shares inched up 8 cents to $26.44 in trading Friday. Microsoft shares slipped 81 cents to $27.49. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more