On Yahoo/ Microsoft: Jerry Yang Should Be Fired

So Microsoft (MSFT) has taken its ball and gone home: the company announced that it is withdrawing its bid for Yahoo (YHOO) after the company refused its bumped-up $33 a share offer and stuck firm to its demand for $37 a share. The letter from Steve Ballmer, which my friend Paul Kedrosky also has posted, describes how Yahoo not only refused the offer, but made it obvious that it was prepared to effectively commit corporate hari-kiri in order to make itself as unappealing as possible. Among other things, it planned to sign a keyword-ad deal with Google (GOOG).

I’m all for fiduciary duty, and in particular the duty of senior executives to scour the globe for a competing offer in order to get the best value for their shares. But Yahoo has had three months and has turned up nothing but an unbelievably lame deal with AOL (TWX) (or so rumor has it).

What possible reason could it have for pushing Microsoft to $37? The existing offer was already 70 per cent higher than the stock was trading at prior to the bid. And the Google deal is just a poison pill by another name.

In my view, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has gone way beyond fiduciary duty and has been effectively blocking this deal in any way possible. I expect to see the stock tank, and deservedly so. If I were a shareholder, I would be calling for Yang’s head. This deal was by far the best opportunity the company had to achieve some value.

Comments

[schmooogle]

Why is a Google Deal a poison pill? All estimates say it will strongly raise revenue (and cut costs, as they cut out much of the huge YSM payroll)...and yahoo! is biggest media ad company online by a large margin. There is also the idea they would accept ads fro both (and maybe other) platforms for search and serve the ones with the highest monitization (skirt anti-trust, retain some ysm talent, max revnues).

The stock was trading down at 19 or 20 prior to the microsoft deal news, but the market was worse and Y! has beat and rasied guidance twice since then. Id put the stock at 25 range now and if the search deal is done right, above 30.

If this stock goes to 19 this week, id be buying on the overreaction. Jerry knew this was an option when he let the deadline pass....another plan is clearly in his back pocket.

[User 188145]

What will happen to msft price on monday?

[alpha1]

Jerry got overly greedy and Balmer called his bluff. In the end MSFT compromised by raising their bid from $29 to $33 despite tremendous MSFT shareholder pressure not over pay. In all likelyhood a deal could have been reached between $34 and $35.

Unless Jerry can get MSFT back to the table he is going to be facing extreme pressure because this deal is the only way he is ever going to get anything close to this kind of value for his company. Yang needs to be reasonable and realistic.

[User 158855]

Yahoo stocks will drop like crazy on Monday. I would pay them for 25 cents each. Jerry needs his head examined. He lost the race!!

[bato sa bato]

To say that Mr. Yang and company underestimated Mr. Ballmere's move of backingout is an understatement. Mr. Yang n Company as well as Msft know that Yhoo is worth over and above $35 range when asian connection ,china in particular is tobe included in the equation. Msft was willing to pay close to $40. before when yhoo's worth less than present. This move is another gamble Mr. Ballmere is betting on, and like the others, it'll backfire and it's his head that will be rolling!!

[keepmerich]

70% premium over a day's stock price! Not for the average stock price for the last 6 months before their offer. If Jerry and board along with major share holders think Yahoo is worth $37, then that is it.

[AmesTiedeman]

Mathew, I agree completely. Yahoo failed to understand that the share holders own the company. It is not a private company or some kind of toy to be played with. MSFT was more than fair. In fact, one could argue that MSFT was over paying at 33. Is Yahoo worth 7 x sales? Seven times!!!! I see nothing but trouble ahead for yahoo. Expect their stock to fall at least 5 on Monday. Yahoo has failed to monetize their asset further. Their paltry earnings to not warrant a stock price over 12.

[smmedo]

The best move by far was for Microsoft to walk away from the Yahoo deal. Jerry was being greedy and there's no way that Yahoo was worth the price they were asking. They should have accepted the original offer, which was more than fair, and together could have built a strong company that could taken the number one position over Google. I hope Yahoo's stock tanks on Monday; Jerry will be the one with egg on his face having to explain himself to angry shareholders.

[Indian Joe]

Jerry lost his "Ying"! how

[709394]

Microsoft's P/E is 16, the stock price is $29. Yahoo's P/E is 60, what do you think the stock price worth? About $12, right? Yahoo can't even affort to pay devidend! How could anybody think the stock worth $40? Who are you kidding? Think about this logically, if the stock worth $40 and if I were Yang, I would waste no time to purchase it at $31.

[User 170207]

Yhoo's board have completely ignored the shareholder concerns, a lot
of shareholders are going to lose a fortune, and YHOO may never get to $33 again. Google will lose interest in helping YHOO now that MSFT has moved on, this is absolubtly reckless.

[LonnieDevereaux]

Yahoo should just focus now on their chocolate milk business. It's still the best one on the market.

[decoflair]

Not very well handled by both sides. Certainly a deal could have been struck at a the $33-34 price range. Yahoo!'s high for the year was $34.08. The $33 was very close to the 52 week high. What a charade we all went through for three months. Now, the big stock price slide. I am sure many huge funds may dump these shares in disgust.

[decoflair]

Perhaps if there is an over-reaction to the downside it may be a good time to add some additional Yahoo!

[709394]

For LOL, the beating estimate and raise guidance business is a bunch of crap. The only question is, how is the price per share determined? If the estimate would higher the P/E, that means the business is dying. If the estimate would allow the P/E to remain unchanged, that means the business is stagnating. If the estimate would lower the P/E, that means the business is growing. This is not rocket science.

With P/E at 60 and pays no devidend, why doesn't the Motley Fool comment on that?

[JerryRocks]

Jerry is thinking strategically, and you, Mr. Ingram, are thinking like very short term. Trying to merge these two behemoths is a mistake as colossal as their market cap. Sure, caving in to the MSFT gorilla would create short-term value for the shareholders, but not caving in will create much greater long-term value. Jerry realized this and acted accordingly by insisting on the real long-term value of the company. Steve was trying to buy his way out of his own failed attempt to replicate Yahoo and Google's success. Yahoo shareholders will only "lose a fortune" if they are short-term arbitragers. Those who already held the stock 3 months ago will simply be right back where they started, with a bright future ahead of them.

[709394]

The only way that the Yahoo can stop the stock from falling off the cliff is to initiate a $31 stock buy back. It's a big bargain if the stock really worth $40. Tell Yang to put the money where his mouth is.

Don't hold your breathe, Yahoo doesn't have the dought.

[wdcfan]

It's hard to part with your children but parents raise them to be independent. Mr Yang, could not part with his baby even though he has nothing left to give it. The partnership with Goog will not pass the smell test of the FTC, will effectively cede the ad revenue space to another company, a competitor no less, and leave small shareholders of Yhoo with a bad taste in their mouth. I bought at 22 saw shares drop to 18, had a rescuer in Msft raise my share price and sold at 28. "I got mine", if you're still in Yhoo, sorry for Jerry's brain Fa*t, but you've had plenty of opportunity to sell and make a couple of bucks. Yhoo did a real disservice to the small shareholders buy not looking at the numbers offered and overvaluing themselves.

[709394]

I am sorry JerryRocks, you don't seem to understand a whole lot about investment. If you have sold your Yahoo on Friday at $29, hold on to your cash and buy them back on Money at $20, you would have a growth of 45%. Sometime down the road, if Yahoo would ever reach $40, you would have $58.50.

Long term growth is fine, but if your investment drops dead, you'd have nothing to grow.

[trulyfree]

Mr. Lang has shown he has a relationship with China, I can only wonder if there is more to the story! Is it time for our esteemed regulators to look, or will money shade their eyes as it has in the past?

In any event Yahoo is now a publicly traded company and not owned by Mr. Lang. I would appear he is not representing the shareholders, only his overwhelming ego. - In Psychology courses I believe it is taught that bizarre people such as arsonist, etc. have a sexual climax when they observe what they have done. Could this merely be the situation now?

I am not smart enough to know any of the answers, only ask questions as peasant would do.

[trulyfree]

Mr. Lang has shown he has a relationship with China, I can only wonder if there is more to the story! Is it time for our esteemed regulators to look, or will money shade their eyes as it has in the past?

In any event Yahoo is now a publicly traded company and not owned by Mr. Lang. I would appear he is not representing the shareholders, only his overwhelming ego. - In Psychology courses I believe it is taught that bizarre people such as arsonist, etc. have a sexual climax when they observe what they have done. Could this merely be the situation now?

I am not smart enough to know any of the answers, only ask questions as peasant would do.

[mysaug]

This is the unfortunate outcome of when a founder can not separate out his interests from the interests of a public company. Yang did not really want to sell at all and used the high price demand to hide this fact. If he took all stock you could look at it as a win-win and not so much a buyout as a merger and YHOO would still be there , such part of a new organizationial structure. If MSFT went to 42 in a year, then YHOO shareholders received 42 if could just wait and hold converted shares.

[traderx]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!... I called this outcome 3 months ago, when the deal was first announced.. I even wrote a published marketwatch talk-back article about my thoughts on the MSFT/YHOO acquisition strategy. Everything has worked out EXACTLY as I predicted, even MSFT raising its bid to precisely $33, and YHOO rejecting it yet again.

MSFT is up on Monday, back to $32-33 a share.. YHOO is down to $17-$19.. GOOG sees a nice $20-$25 a share pop and closes just under or over $600..

Watch and learn puppies.

[pfr138]

Jerry Yang and his entitled Board of Directors should be ousted immediately. Perhaps they don't need the money they threw away by rejecting the Microsoft bid, but we, the many small shareholders that have no representation, certainly could use it! Let Jerry and his gang sail off into the sunset in their gigantic yachts; we need managers that really understand the value that could have been created by a marriage with Microsoft.

[arcang54]

Yahoo and Yang are going to get sued. As for Msft they will have there problems for not working this out. Again the shareholder gets screwed from the big guys. I'm sure there is a lot going on today and through the night to try to make these two hard heads make a deal.

[Gan]

Yeah. Yahoo! is going to get sued and the ignorant folks will be calling for his head. But, do you think the board is actually letting Jerry run like a wild man? I mean - don't you people even think?

The board (and Jerry, of course) looked at the presented option very seriously and rejected it because it does not make sense. As it has been pointed out, the Google deal is not a poison pill but actually a very sound business move to effectively monetize the traffic that Yahoo! gets. This will potentially let Yahoo! focus on display advertising (where Yahoo! is a market leader for those of you who don't do your home work).

The new strategy that the company has laid out, is quite focussed and is definitely resulting in good set of products being launched (or announced).

If Yahoo! can execute on some of the announcements that have been made - you would see the stock doubling by the end of this year or early next year. Then let's see where all the folks who are calling for Yang's head.

[surlymop]

So now what ??

If your an inexperienced investor and your sitting on a pile of Yahoo shares ?? .......... should you dump them first thing Monday morning before they head south too badly ??

Or ......... hang on to them and pray to all that is holy that Yahoo gets it's act together and starts being profitable .


P.S. "Thanks-alot Yang " !! .......... You Dumbass !!

[waters96]

I love the poster who keeps spelling Jerry Yang's name wrong. Very clever.

As an owner of the stock, of course I would like a short-term game. As an investor in a company, Yahoo did the right thing. A marriage with MSFT would've been a disaster for both companies. I believe strongly in Yahoo's long-term growth, so if I have to wait a few quarters or a few years, so be it.

And did anyone else notice how strangely Ballmer acted throughout the entire transaction. Spoiled child? I can't quite figure out what to call it, but he certainly did not seem to act like a dispassionate businessman. He reminded me of those Viet Nam era generals who said, "we have to destroy this village to save it." Anyway, we long-term investors will have endure Bloody Monday. I'm not going to turn my computer on that morning. But I will look forward to the future.

[bob.moneybags]

surlymop, yhoo has been profitable for many years. unlike msft's online division , which is the ONLY part of msft that loses money EVERY qtr.

i can see why jerry did not want his baby to get eaten up a bemoth that after 10 years and billions of dollars of investment is still losing money on ther web.

[alpha1]

Is it all possible that Balmer's "withdrawl" is designed to impact tomorrow's YHOO and MSFT stock prices to the benefit of MSFT?

YHOO will likely trade between $22 and $25. MSFT can buy up to 5% on the open market tomorrow at levels $10 below the potential deal price saving MSFT $1B (1.4B/shares x 50% x $12 savings) or more. Additionally MSFT will also benefit tremendously from a rally in MSFT stock on news of the deal getting cancelled. If MSFT uses a 50/50 cash/stock ratio like they did in their original bid every $1.50 that MSFT rises above Friday's close saves them $1B. In the absence of any additional news I would expect about a $2 ralley in MSFT. So essentially MSFT's bid can increase by more than $2B or $1.50/share (from $33 to $34.50)without them even raising the bid. In fact, they could potentially make a $35 bid on Tuesday based upon Monday's MSFT closing price and actually be paying the equivalent of the $33 bid they wanted this weekend.

Clearly Yang and YHOO's bankers are aware of this but it seems their backs are against the wall at this point. Just a theory.

[John Capozzi]

Now the door is wide open. Mr. Yang was instructed by the board that he had their blessing to move down to 37 but wanted 40. Yes Mr. Balmer could have offered 35-36 and we would have had a deal. Another subject here Aliiba stated they did not want to go with Microsoft and was already positioning themselves to put up Yahoo 40% interest for sale. Allibba & Softbank which owns the major stake in Yahoo Japan should have been sitting in this meeting. The major sector of internet, media, search and add is in China & the rest of Asia & India. Allibba set the foundation in DEC 2007 for Yahoo to build the biggest R&D center in its history. Search, add and media revenue will hit into the 100's of billions of dollars by 2010 and most of it is in Asia.Now Allibba has an interest in Baidu and now that MS has walked and been defeated by Google once more you can very well see as early as t/m talk of a team up of Allibba, Softbank which owns the major stake in Yahoo Japan and Baidu with funding by the Chinese government if needed { JUST LOOK INTO THE LENOVO & IBM DEAL FOR IBM'S PERSONAL COMPUTER SECTOR } or stock from Baidu which is trading over 300 dollars a share bid for the rest of Yahoo USA and in turn this opens the USA market for them as well. The bid price will be in the mid 40's or more. In the mean time Yahoo mergers with AOL gives Timewarner its little 20% interest and adds a large chunk of revenue and also gives a small 3% of search and add to Google which owns 3% or 5% of AOL and this brings in another billion dollars a year in added revenue. Most foreign interest do not like or want any part of Microsoft because of their management & business tactics.
Now you can also see the new CEO of AT&T loaded with cash who has stated that they need the search and add business as their land line revenue shrinks as everything goes wireless. Then theirs IBM and Apple and News Corp with MY SPACE. You also have been seeing major newspapers going to Yahoo not Google for their online add and search business. I am holding my Yahoo investment and because the news media will manipulate and be all over Yahoo shares t/m bringing it down and i really dont think it will be much and see the hedgefunds gobble it up because there will be new suitors coming to the table now that Microsoft is out of the picture. Software business will be dead in less then 3 years and companies have already started giving it away for market share in search and add and internet usage. This is the core of MS business. Then to not wait and release Microsofts statement until Monday morning seems strange. Google does it again and spoils the best chance Microsoft ever had to move into more market share of search & add and Balmer gives up. Major shareholders of Yahoo wanted 40 and said go down to 37 if you have too but no less. Allibba will play a key part this week as it brings Baidu to the table which it has an interest in. With the games in China this year the media adds will be spending billions and Allibba is set up well and this can only increase Yahoo's bottom line. Hmmm this deal still might be done at 37 by a push by Mr. Gates who is most likely in talks with Ms. Decker at Warren Buffets anual meeting. Dont panic sell. I am holding and on the dips will most likely invest more in Yahoo in short term too because something else will coming out this week in Yahoo's favor i bet.

[bill d]

I thought I was a dumbass when I watch some of my options go in & out of a profit but I can I hang on (greedy) and sometimes it works (rarely). I'm the only one I have a fiduciary duty to make money to. Jerry lang,Yang whoever is royally screwing his - correction - NOT HIS - yahoo shareholders but looking a gift horse in the mouth. Almost wish I had some stock so I could join in the class action suit. I do have some 30 Jan 09 calls for both yhoo & msft. Already had profit in msft but waiting. Now it appears I should be able to more than recoup the yhoo loss that will occur on Monday. But I may be buying and selling some yhoo calls on Monday. God, I love this country !

[sf94127]

Yeah, Yang should be fired. This is an example of need to rotate management when the company reaches certain tier levels. Yahoo is back to being somewhat irrelevant again. Ballmer is not going to waste his time again with YAHOO unless he has an adult over there to negotiate with.

[Achates]

I suspect Jerry will be happy to find a new CEO in the near future - I don't think he particularly wanted to have that role.

People who think Yahoo should have sold are idiots who think the market fairly values things. It's gambling, folks - today people feel good about you tomorrow they think you're going down hill, a week from now they may think you're the smartest thing they ever saw. All that matters is where they think, today, you're going to get to.

Yahoo on its own has a lot more upside potential than Microsoft - the odds on Yahoo doubling or tripling its stock price are way higher than that kind of change in Microsoft's stock. Yahoo has been up before and it can certainly be up again. Selling it to the wreckers for salvage would have been idiotic if the leadership believes the company is turning around.

[FranciscoDAnconia]

JerryRocks, bob.Moneybags, and waters96. Its good to see there are at least a few clear thinkers out there not bleating along with the rest of the sheep. Yang is looking out for the long term interest of his company and not trying to turn a quick profit overnite. Here is a little mental exercise for the rest of you. Who do you think has a lot of Yahoo stock and options and stands to lose a large amount of value if the stock price goes down. Hint: His initials are JY.

Microsoft is yesterdays technology company trying to buy there way back into the fight. They have an online division that is in the red and an OS (Vista) that nobody wants.

I for one hope that Yahoo's stock price does drop on Monday so I can get in and buy while all of the folks that were running up the price on friday take their beating.

[smellystuff]

Yang did the right thing. YHOO! deserves more than MFT is willing to pay. Jerry is looking after shareholders, just ask Netscape, Lotus...holders and where they are now. MSFT will fold this and shutter one of the marquee internet company. Sure the name will be there, but the guts will be gone.

There a rough patch ahead for sure, but YHOO! will be stronger I believe.

[blah-blah]

The Yang defenders just kill me - thanks for the laughs

[nx]

Has Yang been buying is own stock hand over fist before the bid??? No, so how can he rightfully say the stock price at $33/shr is undervalued, when it was $19 and he bought none!

[optionwannabe]

Seriously, are you seriously going to back Yang on this? YHOO with better tech than MSFT? Come, Panama is a bust how come their entire 2 year rebuilding of the company was bested by a simple outsourcing deal with GOOG? YHOO is dead, Yang is arrogant and going to pay the price for it.

[investorslive]

Looking at the following for Monday, all the big boys will take a break and consolidate (GOOG, AAPL, BIDU, RIMM, V, MA) its only healthy... now we have the MSFT YHOO saga...

www.investorslive.com/.../

[JeffP87]

Yang is do arrogant. I really wish that yahoo's stock will tank on monday...they deserved it very much.

[fxtrader07]

now yang and his clowns have all the time in the world to show and to prove that Yahoo was worth $37/share at least. But oh, wait, they damaged the brand already so massively with the goog-deals that it will be hard for them to even keep the stock at the $20 level. Make no mistake the ONLY reason that the stock will not fall much below $22-24 over the coming days will be that almost everybody still expects MSFT to come along again. They may not anytime soon. If people start to realize that there will be no second round anytime soon, the stock will crater down to $15.
and yeah, i think yhoo's average employees (not the top execs who already have secured their millions and billions) will certainly be happy to go to work again for their boss who has just cut their stockholdings' value by about 60%
well done, jerry yang, it could have ended for good - now you will preside over acompany in steady, painful decay - until you get fired and sued out of your chair.
with no new msft bid, yhoo will be $15 a year from now, at best

[Wee Moo Foo]

Employees with NO stock awards may rally behind Yang only if there are no more layoffs. But if Yang gives it up the Ying to any employees now, the rest of his ranks will abandon hope and quickly start job hunting. However, employees WITH stock awards are completely pissed off at Yang. They lost real money, just like the shareholders. Ask any Yahoo investor today if he will gladly sell his shares at $33, even if he bought at higher price. The answer will come back Y.E.S. cause that's a whole lot more than $21 or lower the stock will likely see this week. Foo says Yahoo worth $12-14 max valuation though I don't expect to see that low today. Next earnings report I do expect Yang to be heading out the door as shareholders revolt against flat 12% growth again.

[MSmailbox]

"Time is of the essence..." I'd like to see both parties just cool it! What if they were to wait 1 year and then, both sides would have time to cool off, draw a more accurate picture of where each company is headed and come up with a better idea of what the fmv of Yahoo, is. Jumping into a marriage is risky for both... Waiting, allows both partners time to consider their future carefully, before they sign on the dotted line.... Patience and deciding at leasure, not under pressure (or being rushed), is almost always the best way to assure that it's a win-win for both parties involved. That word, again, is patience... If this is a good marriage, it will still be a good marriage, 12 months from now.

[Brewer]

Ballmer is the one that should be let go, IMHO.

[fxtrader07]

@MSmailbox: time is exactly what neither msft nor yhoo have if they want to take on goog. if yang inventes more suicidal "defense" options yahoo's fate as a independent company will eventually be sealed anyway. the point is: yahoo is loosing value, not gaining it. that may sound strange as yhoo still grows sales and profits - but they lose at a rapid pace against goog and it will just be a matter of time when the growth stops and the whole thing goes in reverse. this is not WMT, where a steady stream of profits is assured. this is a business where you are pretty close to extinction anytime - no matter how great you have been a couple of years before.

[WAKEUP]

At mid-day, (now) Yahoo is nearing $25, and headed UP.

[moose1942]

I wonder how many Yahoo employees got screwed with the rest of us. Jerry Wang - did everyone - including himself a disservice by his actions. Jerry go park your ego at the door. Idiot

[jackooo]

waters96
If you like holding for the long term you should be a stock broker. That's what mutual funds tell you so they can keep earning? their commissions from you for years and years and years..
Here's a few long termers for you. JDSU, TWX, and CMCSA. They should be good long terms for about 20 years. lol lol
You owe me.... lol

[User 185237]

Now all Mr. Softee has to do is wait until Yahoo's price comes back to reality and initiate a hostel take over at a fraction of the price. Microsoft should punish Jerry and Yahoo for this stupid mistake!

[Peter Lien]

Humm - Jerry get fired - maybe. But I for one think that selling to Microsoft would be the death nail in the Yahoo rise to relevance coffin.

Microsoft has a tendency to kill innovation and right now the market would benefit from Microsoft staying far away from Yahoo. Why?

Because Microsoft is too slow moving. Its corporate culture will not mesh to be able to add to any value Yahoo might have. BASICALLY the deal was a simple asset rape and would dissipate after a year the deal would have gone through because of the real mass exodus of Yahoo talent.

[Zeninvestor]

Jerry Yang's contributions to Yahoo stopped years ago. Bringing him back, although expedient, was disaster waiting to happen. It isn't 1999 anymore, and he does not see that fact. Fire him, for sure!

As for Microsoft, they have effectively pushed the price of Yahoo beyond what anyone else will pay, and forced them into unappealing territory when they rejected the bid (a very one) from Microsoft. Now, although they did not 'get' Yahoo, they emasculated them as a competitor. Ballmer get's a B- and keep his job, and has many other alternatives to boost his presence in the search engine advertising space. My guess is that he will do that for far less than the acquisition price of Yahoo.

Google wins in the short term with two weak competitors, and quite possibly buys the time to 'own' the space for the long term as well. No surprises here.

[bearfund]

surlymop, it you're an amateur investor why are you holding a pile of yhoo in the first place? What made you like it when you bought? More the the point, why would you buy stock that doesn't pay a dividend and never has? Oh, right, you're an amateur. I forgot. You were assuming there'd be a greater fool and now you're sorry Mr. Ballmer wasn't him. I'll give you $5 for your shares if you're feeling downtrodden. That's about what they're worth, after all.

[aardivark]

Umm, if Yang deserves to be fired, then Steve Hamlet Ballmer deserves to have his a** kicked to the next planet. He got totally outplayed in this. Again, it's been laid bare that Hamlet Ballmer HAS NO CLEAR VISION where he wants to take Msft. First Y! was crucial to their future, then it's not. I bet he was just so glad that Yang gave him the excuse to walk away from this deal which was thoroughly ill-conceived in the first place. That's the one smart thing that he'll ever have done as MS CEO.

I ask again, other than be Bill Gates' college buddy, what has Steve Ballmer ever done that qualifies him for his current job?

[peterblaise]

Hey, I'm pleased. I PAY Yahoo for their services that I receive from them, and I would have left if Microsoft took over. Go-o-o-O-O YAHOO!

[RafaelGrillo]

Interesting action on YHOO today. It seesm the doom and gloom scenario didn't play out. The market is waiting for Act II and I think we will se more of this MSFT-YHOO deal. bill d: hold onto those options. You may break even. In any case, I seriously doubt YHOO has any significant future. As per MSFT, I think their corporate culture is way screwed up as to ever build a significant presence in the Web. The would simply smother anything they touch. Gosh, even their software is flailing! (Vista anyone?)