Yahoo! says it has rejected a joint-offer from Microsoft and Carl Icahn for its internet search business.

The company states it was given less than 24 hours to accept the proposal, which involved a "complex restructuring of Yahoo!" and gave no room for negotiation over the fundamental terms.

Among its reasons for refusing the offer, Yahoo! comments that its recently-signed commercial agreement with Google has lower levels of complexity and greater financial value.

Chairman of Yahoo! Roy Bostock referred to Microsoft and Carl Icahn as presenting an "odd and opportunistic alliance".

He said their "take it or leave it" offer was not in the best interests of his company, adding: "It is ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal."

Last week, Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt apparently suggested an independent Yahoo! is better for competition.

According to reports, he previously argued an earlier Microsoft offer for Yahoo! had been "anti-competitive".

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)