Image: Microsoft and Yahoo Corporate Brand Identities

My friend Dean commented recently that he bet Yahoo was wishing they had accepted Microsoft’s offer to buy the company not so long ago. When he made the comment, Yahoo stock was at $14.50.

I just looked today and Yahoo stock is at a whopping $8.95 according to Market Watch. Microsoft’s offer was $33/share when Yahoo and Jerry Yang said no to the offer and felt rebuffed that they would be offered so low a price and would never sell to a company the likes of Microsoft.

I still think Yahoo should sell to Microsoft. I then think that Microsoft should sell-off some of the properties but then try to merge and consolidate the strong brands and increase their market share and customer base on a variety of fronts.

There are a number of online services and products that Microsoft could do some interesting things with, not to mention the load of new customers that would come with the Yahoo services. I do think there would be a number of people that would bail on their Yahoo accounts if they were purchased by Microsoft.

The question remains though, will the Yahoo and Microsoft deal ever go through? I guess that’s the question of the hour. What do you think? Should Yahoo sell now? Should Microsoft offer again now or just let it keep going lower in price?

Post from: EveryJoe

Is Yahoo Regretting Saying No to Microsoft

Microsoft’s support of Icahn also intensifies the pressure on Yahoo co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Yang, whose handling of the earlier sales negotiations with Microsoft infuriated many shareholders.

What do you make of this latest development? Personally I think it’s exactly the thing that I expected to happen eventually. Yahoo’s Yang didn’t make any friends with his bold rebuff of Microsoft’s original offer.

There’s the talk of Microsoft only being interested in the search potential, but I think Yahoo has a lot more value to Microsoft than just search. They need to go after everything in a full-blown buyout of the entire company. If they don’t want pieces after they’ve got it they can either kill them or sell them off to others or let them become independent operating units.

Source: Microsoft wants to negotiate with new Yahoo board

Post from: EveryJoe

Microsoft Interested in a New Yahoo Board

• Employee compensation poison pill
• Yahoo managers didn’t want Google partnership

First, Yahoo made it more worthwhile for Yahoo employees to leave the company than to stay if purchased by Microsoft. It’s a poison pill that makes the company very unattractive for potential bidders. I don’t understand why anyone would want a company they worked for to act like that.

The other tool that Yahoo used during all the activities by Microsoft was to float the idea of a partnership with Google. Foley’s article states that Yahoo managers weren’t interested in a Google partnership before Microsoft’s offer.

So what these actions and others like it do for the company? In my opinion it makes it even less of a valuable purchase for anyone. Personally, if I were interested in Yahoo! I think I’d continue to sit back and let Yahoo! continue to devalue themselves. Then I’d come in get it a clearance prices.

Post from: EveryJoe

All Not Happy In Yahoo-Land