Microsoft and Yahoo
Michael Arrington has a piece on Techcrunch today ripping into Microsoft for offering to consider re-entering merger talks if Yahoo replaces its board. He argues that: "...Microsoft, led by CEO Steve Ballmer, have taken Yahoo’s rebuffs entirely too personally. It’s no longer just about business, it’s about destroying and humiliating the people who embarrassed Microsoft."
False. The reason that Microsoft is insisting that Yahoo replace its board before re-entering talks is that Jerry Yang and his allies previously gave Microsoft the distinct impression that, rather than submit to a merger, they would "burn the furniture [and] destroy the place".
We can all understand why Yang would have gone to extreme lengths to try to keep the company he founded from being subsumed into Microsoft. However, we can also all understand why Microsoft, having had its fingers burned once, would prefer never to deal with him again.
My unsolicited advice to Yahoo shareholders: Fire the board, do a deal, and get on with life.
False. The reason that Microsoft is insisting that Yahoo replace its board before re-entering talks is that Jerry Yang and his allies previously gave Microsoft the distinct impression that, rather than submit to a merger, they would "burn the furniture [and] destroy the place".
We can all understand why Yang would have gone to extreme lengths to try to keep the company he founded from being subsumed into Microsoft. However, we can also all understand why Microsoft, having had its fingers burned once, would prefer never to deal with him again.
My unsolicited advice to Yahoo shareholders: Fire the board, do a deal, and get on with life.
posted by Moses Kagan at
8:13 AM
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