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Yahoo investors came to the annual shareholders meeting Friday looking for answers on the failed bid by Microsoft.

Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock speaks to shareholders Friday.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News via Yahoo Webcast)

And while Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock, speaking early during the meeting, covered a fair amount of ground on the long-running melodrama of Microsoft’s buyout bid and subsequent developments, there were two things missing from his presentation.

One, how the company came to the conclusion that a $33 a share Microsoft buyout offer wasn’t rich enough and why a counter of $37 a share was justified. And two, what’s up with Yahoo’s controversial employee severance plan and whether the Internet pioneer will let it die a natural death.

Bostock noted that although Microsoft’s initial $31 a share offer was the only written deal it put on the table, Yahoo, which rejected that valuation, took Microsoft’s sweetened verbal offer of $33 per share seriously.

“Microsoft said in an offhand comment, ‘There may be a few dollars more.’ Shortly afterward, we re-engaged with them again,” Bostock said during the shareholders meeting. “The board said, ‘Let’s treat the $33 (a share) proposal as a real proposal.”

Despite treating the $33 a share offer as “real,” Yahoo countered with $37 a share.

Microsoft withdrew the $33 a share offer and has not come back with another buyout bid for the entire company, though it did entertain the possibility of a search-only acquisition. On Friday, Yahoo’s shares dipped as low as $19.53 a share.

The investor question and answer is about to begin. Jerry Yang said it will last 15 minutes.

One shareholder laughed, saying that’s “not enough time.”

Click here for full coverage of Yahoo’s shareholders meeting.