Mike Cooper

Can Icahn Bring Microsoft's Bid for Yahoo Back?

Icahn is an idiot. If Microsoft wanted to take its Yahoo bid hostile, it could have done that without Icahn. Ballmer guessed correctly that trying to "conquer" Yahoo would result in the flight of all the major talent that makes Yahoo more than some nicely situated California real estate and a warehouse of Linux servers. Icahn doesn't get that.

If Ballmer is willing to come to the table at all following Icahn's palace coup it will be with a number that will put Icahn in exactly the same hotseat that Yang is in now!

YHOO/GOOG Deal Would Be Anti-Competitive - Microsoft

I don't necessarily disagree with Microsoft here. I just want to point out how similar (recycled) this argument sounds compared to the argument Microsoft used in the anti-trust lawsuit filed by Netscape against Microsoft in the early '90s. When Netscape complained that embedding Internet Explorer in Windows was anticompetitive, Microsoft's argument was "Netscape owns 90% of browser market. How can THEY cry monopoly?" Ofcourse the next two years after that play out exactly as everyone, including Microsoft, knew it would with Microsoft gaining 90% share and driving all commercial competitors out of the business.

The moral: NEVER trust a commercial business to define the term "fair competition" for you. Just don't bother listening. Ever.

Yahoo Goes Scorched Earth

I am a little unclear what Microsoft gains with its offer. Yahoo's search engine is only marginally better rated than Microsoft's. Yahoo has better content, but that is one of the easiest things to improve assuming you have the intellectual talent working in the trenches for you.

And there's the rub. Yahoo has got it, but every indication is that Microsoft will lose it if/when it takes over. The IT culture wars, in which Bill Gates plays a 4-eyed Darth Vader, is alive and well there. I can guarantee you, that Yang's maneuvering, however anti-shareholder, is getting rave reviews from the employees.

I forsee Microsoft winning this battle but winding up with a $40+ billion empty shell of a company. How can they not see that?