Yahoo's House of Cards Is Tumbling

“I’m extremely disappointed in Jerry Yang. I think he overplayed a weak hand. And I’m even more disappointed in the independent directors who were not responsive to the needs of independent shareholders.”
- Gordon Crawford of Capital Research, which owns 6% of Yahoo’s shares

The lawsuits are rolling in, and Yahoo’s (YHOO) biggest shareholders (see quote above) aren’t being shy about what they think of Jerry Yang and the Yahoo board of directors.

My guess is that Microsoft (MSFT) still very much wants Yahoo, they’re just trying really, really hard to make it look like they don’t. Now is their time to strike (again) as Yahoo’s shareholders are driven to make public comments like the one above out of sheer frustration.

If I were Microsoft, I’d place a new bid for Yahoo at $33 per share, and let the offer stand for three days. Yahoo’s shareholders are speaking quite publicly now that they think $33 is just fine, thank you. Yahoo’s board would have very little standing at this point to oppose it, with their stockholders making their position so clear.

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[gofer:]

Yahoo is now saying that they never got Microsoft's offer in writing.
Weak. Very weak.
Got cell phones?
If not go see Apple... they have 'em.
Bottom line is, if Yahoo really wanted a deal they would have found a way to get it done. Nice going Jerry.
What Yahoo need now is to give the appearance that a deal is still possible, whether or not it's even realistic. With a deal possible, YHOO hangs at 26-29. With a deal completely dead, we're looking at 20-21, maybe less. Having said that, I'm still not convinced that Yahoo needs MS to thrive. What I am convinced about, though, is that Yahoo definitely needs new leadership.

2008 May 06 01:14 PM