Geez what a putz Jerry Yang is ............. *********************************************** Yahoo CEO open to more Microsoft talks Monday May 5, 8:04 pm ET By Michele Gershberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) chief Jerry Yang signaled a more open stance towards Microsoft Corp (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) on Monday, saying he had been seeking common ground when the software maker abruptly ended deal talks. Yang told Reuters in an interview that he had "mixed feelings" about the weekend outcome, after investors showed their disappointment over the break-up of negotiations by sending Yahoo shares down 15 percent. "We were negotiating a way to find common ground and then on Saturday they chose to walk away," said the 39-year-old co-founder of the pioneering Internet company. "They started it and they walked away." Asked if Yahoo would still leave a door open for Microsoft to return, Yang said: "If they have anything new to say, we would be open. ... I am more than willing to listen." After three months of negotiations, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raised his offer for Yahoo to $33 per share from an initial $31, for a total deal value of about $47.5 billion. Yang held out for $37 per share, saying that even the sweetened offer did not value Yahoo properly for its Web search advertising technology, its prominence in selling display ads and its lucrative overseas holdings. Some analysts said Yahoo shares, which dropped $4.30 to end at $24.37 on Monday, could have fallen 30 percent to closer to $19.18, its price before Microsoft made its bid public on February 1. But the descent was cushioned by investors who are betting Microsoft will eventually come back to the table. "This is going to play out over the next several months and there is still a chance Microsoft will buy the company for somewhere around $33 a share," said Todd Dagres, general partner at venture capital fund Spark Capital. "What Microsoft is hoping is that Yahoo shareholders get militant." A GOOGLE VICTORY? Shares of Microsoft rose initially on investor relief that it was not paying billions more for Yahoo, though the stock ended down slightly amid concerns about how the software maker would develop its Web strategy in the face of a dominant Google Inc (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News). "I think $33 was fairly generous for Yahoo and if Yahoo won't accept it, they (Microsoft) did the right thing in walking," said Mike Binger, a fund manager at Thrivent Financial, which owned both Yahoo and Microsoft shares. Microsoft courted Yahoo to capitalize on the rapidly growing market for Internet advertising, one that has long been served by Yahoo's search, e-mail and Web communities. It is also trying to fend off the expansion of Google, which has made inroads into Microsoft's home turf with a portfolio of Web based-applications, e-mail and messaging. But now that a deal has fallen apart, Google has emerged as the key beneficiary. Shares in the company rose 2.3 percent. "Google has just kept their foot on the accelerator," said Derek Brown, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. "Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft in their current state seems to be a material competitive threat." Yahoo is likely to press alternative strategies in coming weeks, including a search advertising partnership with Google and a deal for Time Warner Inc's (NYSE:TWX - News) AOL Internet unit. A Google deal would boost Yahoo's operating performance in the near term, but runs the risk of regulatory scrutiny over an alliance between the Internet's top two players. In a letter to Yang over the weekend, Ballmer warned that any deal between Yahoo and Google would be difficult to unravel and would preclude an agreement with Microsoft. Yang told Reuters the company would take care to structure any new efforts to "preserve as much (as possible) long-term flexibility for Yahoo, both operationally and strategically." SHAREHOLDER PRESSURE Analysts expect a flurry of shareholder lawsuits against Yahoo, and say it may even face direct pressure on its board. Already, some Yahoo shareholders have started to question how talks were handled. Bill Miller, a portfolio manager for Legg Mason, Yahoo's second-largest shareholder, told the New York Times in a Sunday interview that he would have considered selling to Microsoft for $34 or $35 a share. While that was more than Microsoft's offer, it was less than the $37 per share Yahoo's board had insisted on. Yang, who owns about 4 percent of the company, was expected to hold a meeting with employees on Tuesday in an effort to reassure staff in the wake of the Microsoft talks ending. Yang said in a post on the company's blog on Sunday night: "No one is celebrating about the outcome of these past three months ... and no one should. We live and work in a competitive world and the Web is only going to get more competitive. Executing on our strategic plan is what matters most."
Maybe next time, Yang will make up his own mind rather than rely on his investment bankers who thought they could bluff Ballmer into overpaying.
Yahoo would have to port all they have to Microsoft software from Unix. That might be a real problem, tech people inside Yahoo are not Microsoft oriented at all. They might flee the place in droves really, maybe the Yahoo CEO just doesn't really want to see the place gutted by Microsoft. I think a "gutting" premium should be paid by Balmer, and some more on top of that for having to work in his organization........
Is Jerry a moron? Or he really think shareholders are? He just dumped their web search advertising technology for Google's. After billions of dollar in development, they just drop the ball on it. MS should just let Yahoo run to the group, and pick them up when it's at 10 or 15.
yahoo 2 entries found. 2[influenced by 2yahoo] : a boorish, crass, or stupid person â ya·hoo·ism \-ˌi-zəm\ noun Etymology: perhaps alteration of yo-ho, interjection used to attract attention, from yo + ho Maybe the boys at Vistaland should walk away from this overvalued, underperforming, badly managed turd ship and start thinking about a real strategic aquisition.
See here: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/15033/Decker-We-Never-Got-33-Offer-in-Writing So, are they?