Sunday, March 16, 2008

Yahoo!'s options | Deconstructing Jerry | Economist.com

The saga continues...

Mr Yang is an amiable character who hates aggression in management as much as in takeovers. So he made a gesture to Microsoft this week to avert hostility. Yahoo! had a deadline of March 14th for shareholders to nominate directors to be voted on at the annual meeting, which must be held between now and July. This would have forced Microsoft to put up its own slate of directors in opposition to the present batch, and thus to fire the first salvo in a proxy battle. But Yahoo! postponed the deadline, buying more time and keeping Microsoft officially friendly, for now.

There are worse fates for Mr Yang than selling. He is 39, recently became a father, and he has a promising golf game. He is reluctant to cave in to Microsoft, but he probably has no choice, given his duty to his shareholders. He needs to explore all the alternatives and put up a bit of a struggle first, if only for the sake of his own pride. As any parent knows, the most painful part is always letting go.

Yahoo!'s options | Deconstructing Jerry | Economist.com

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