« Iron Man was just not very magnetic to me | Main | Why even having health insurance is not enough anymore »

May 04, 2008

What would you do with Ballmer's letter if you were a Yahoo shareholder

As you probably know Microsoft has officially withdrawn their offer for Yahoo.  I had a look at the letter Steve Ballmer sent to Jerry Yang officially withdrawing the offer and offering his reasons why. Must say that it is rare that a document like this is made public.  I must also say that if I were a Yahoo shareholder, it would be a key piece of evidence when I sued Jerry Yang and the rest of the Yahoo board and management for not accepting Microsoft's generous offer.

What I found particularly disturbing (as did Ballmer and Microsoft evidently) was Yahoo's threat to basically outsource their search advertising to Google if Microsoft pursued proxy fight takeover.  Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!  That would be suicidal for Yahoo, but just goes to show you that Yang and gang had a no Microsoft at any cost strategy.

With the passage of time I think this will be looked on as a terrible mistake by Yahoo and at some point in the next 24 to 36 months they are going to be acquired for a lot less money.  They cannot compete with Google alone, they have not executed well for years and this will force Microsoft to do something else to become more competitive in search. 

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/547509/28745860

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference What would you do with Ballmer's letter if you were a Yahoo shareholder:

Comments

Search

Lijit Search

disclaimer

  • The views and opinions expresed here are those of myself only and in no way represent the views or positions or opinions of my employer, Latis Networks, Inc. d/b/a StillSecure or anyone else.

Forbes.com

StillSecure, After all these years, the podcast

  • Podlogo

Currently Reading

  • Conn Iggulden: Genghis: Birth of an Empire

    Conn Iggulden: Genghis: Birth of an Empire
    I have always been drawn to stories of Genghis Khan. How was he able to take a primitive people and conquer most of the world? What did the Mongol culture have that enabled this. This is the first of a trilogy on the life of the great Khan. It is great, easy reading and gives a great picture into the life and times of GK. (****)

Read Recently

Blog powered by TypePad
Member since 10/2005