So I've been getting a lot of questions about what's up with Yahoo lately, and what's next. The big date to remember is August 1st, 2008 when Yahoo will hold their annual shareholder's meeting. In that meeting, shareholders will vote on who will control Yahoo. On the left corner, we have the current management that's led by co-founder Jerry Yang. On the right corner, we have Icahn who's a professional corporate raider.
Yahoo News is running an article entitled, "
Tensions escalating in battle for Yahoo's board." Basically, last night Microsoft and Icahn gave Yahoo a new deal, where Microsoft would buy Yahoo Search, and give the rest of Yahoo to Icahn. It was a take it or leave it deal, and the Yahoo board was only given 24 hours to consider the deal.
After more than five months of sparring, the battle for control of Yahoo Inc. has turned into a bare-knuckles brawl with a whiff of desperation hanging over all the key combatants.
The showdown intensified late Saturday after Yahoo revealed that it had spurned Microsoft's latest attempt to buy its online search engine in a joint proposal made with activist investor Carl Icahn, who is leading a shareholder rebellion aimed at removing Yahoo's current board.
Icahn, who has no experience running an Internet company, would have been left in charge of Yahoo's remaining pieces had an agreement to sell the search engine to Microsoft been reached.
"It's not surprising that Yahoo would reject an offer like that," Gartner Inc. analyst Andrew Frank said Sunday. "It would be just too complicated to do."
Microsoft declined comment Sunday. Icahn didn't respond to requests for comment.
Yahoo's explanation for rebuffing Microsoft left little doubt that both Yahoo and Icahn are now willing to explore options that they had previously scorned as they appeal to Yahoo shareholders before a pivotal Aug. 1 vote.
The shareholders are being asked to either support the current Yahoo regime that has overseen the Internet icon's recent struggles or roll the dice on an alternate board led by Icahn in hopes of finally working out a deal with Microsoft.
Hoping to fend off the revolt, Yahoo's board is now willing to sell the entire company to Microsoft for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share — a price it rejected as too low 10 weeks ago. But Microsoft has said it has no interest in buying Yahoo in its entirety as long as the company's current board is in place.
Yahoo evidently has concluded it miscalculated by demanding $37 per share in early May, prompting Microsoft to withdraw its bid to the dismay of Yahoo shareholders as they helplessly watched the company's stock price sink back toward $20.
As for Icahn, he is now pushing Yahoo to sell its search operations to Microsoft — an idea that he implored the company's board not to pursue just last month.
More analysis over at
Alley Insider as well if you want more information.
What's my opinion in all of this? I'm not going to say much, but I want some notion of closure to all of this. Microsoft, if you're intent on buying Yahoo, get it done. If you're not, back off and go away, for good. I'm weary of this constant running battle with them, and the uncertainty that it creates.
Mark August 1st on your calendars. It's going to be a corporate no-holds-barred cage match battle.
