Yahoo’s Yang refuses to cave under Ballmer-Icahn pressure
Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang has pointedly stated that financier Carl Icahn’s bid to takeover the board “is a big mistake”. And it’s takeover that Yang is prepared to do what he can to prevent.
BoomTown’s Kara Swisher spoke to the beleaguered CEO to get Yang’s comments this week, and it’s obvious Yang is preparing to fight back. Yang told Swisher, “I think handing over the company to Carl Icahn for the express purpose of hoping he can negotiate a complex deal with Microsoft is a big mistake for shareholders,” Yang insists that Icahn has no plan B, and without one Yahoo will have no leverage to bring to the discussion table.
Yang also brushes off Microsoft’s bid as half-hearted, saying “Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo has been inconsistent at best and they refuse to even put a firm proposal on the table.” In the end, all the shareholders will be left with is an Icahn-controlled Yahoo if the Microsoft deal falls through, surmises Yang.
It’s a pity that Yahoo’s fate is going to come to an August 1 standoff that, for all purposes, will likely end up ugly. But you can empathize with Yang’s distrust of Carl Icahn’s motivations. Yang does have blinders on, admittedly – this is the company he helped found and he sees things from a slightly more invested and personal point of view.
Icahn is strictly business, but the problem here is whether he understands what will happen to Yahoo if the board just caves in to his demands to helm it. Just handing over Yahoo wholesale to Microsoft might line Icahn’s pockets but might not necessarily be what the company needs right now. The question here is – does Icahn have Yahoo’s best interests at heart? Or will he just cut up the search engine wholesale and surrender it to the highest bidder? The August 1 meeting will just be part of a long rollercoaster of events that Yahoo could end up not surviving.
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