Major Fallout: Yahoo Shareholders, Employees React to Deal's Demise

Seems to em like we have more short-term traders than we do long-term investors commenting on this. Personally, I believe Yahoo will return considerably more to investors than Microsoft will over the next few years. Unless you need the cash short term, this broken deal is probably a plus for Yahoo *investors*, longer term.

duh! many expressed dismay.....where were they at when Yang put an exclamation mark to the name. Maybe he will come up with a "!!" next that is only for the children of the World....surfing "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" "Goofy" "Cookie Jars" "Ben and Izzy" “Gorky Rises” "Schnappi das kleine Krokodil" "Tetsuwan Atom" "Lil Bits Gang" "Fat Albert" "Scooby-Doo" "Robotech" with an online smut filter tighter than Epsilon.

Need to oust Jerry Yang. He does not know what he is doing. Really screwed over a lot of share holders including himself. MSFT is laughing all the way to the bank. Next year they will be able to purchase YHOO at half its price.

Jason L. "The stock [MSFT] is unchanged over the last 10 years." LOL! Better that then down 50%, I guess. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=YHOO&t=my

Jason L, you are right that Microsoft's price is virtually unchanged over the past 10 years but if you look at Microsofts total 10 year return (stock price appreciation and dividends), the stock has returned 4.4% annually. You can't exclude dividends when looking at a stocks rate of return. But yes, like you said, you would be just about as well off if you had put your money in a CD.

Ballmer just flexed the MSFT muscle to it's fullest. If there was a single company willing to buy YHOO we would have heard from them by now. Ballmer is not going to be squeezed higher based on pure sentiment. Should another suitor emerge Ballmer can jump back in, but until then he will sit back and let Wang wallow in the aftermuck. I predict MSFT will bid $28 in 6-12 months when YHOO is in the teens and the YHOO board will be happy to take it. cb

To Jason L How do you break it into pieces when it has pretty much one business?

This is what happens when emotion get's into business. Yang and his buddies don't like Microsoft.....BOO HOO. Let yahoo shares get pounded and lie dead for a few months. I talked with a customer a few weeks ago and thought I was nuts for buying yahoo, he said he had some and it did nothing while Google was hot, hot, hot. If yang allows Google to process some business, what a fool. Heard of competetion yand. Software smart, BUSINESS STUPID.

We need government regulation to ensure that shareholders (i.e owners of a company) have a say in what goes on in corporate boardrooms. Additionally CEO's and executives often collect EXCESSIVE COMPENSATION regardless of performance. They need to be held personally accountable for poor decision making. And shareholders should have the power to remove (i.e. fire) incompetent board members. Yang should be on the chopping block.

Selfish greed - Yang's undoing. What a lesson in self-interest.

Hey Jason L, Looking at Yahoo Historic prices, MSFT adj for div and splits ended Apr of 98 @ 19.12 and Apr of 08 at 28.52. Where are you getting your numbers?

I don't know how Jerry sleeps at night.?

jeffstone48...it shouldn't be that hard. HotJobs should be broken off as a separate entity to compete against Monster. Yahoo Personals should be broken off as a stand-alone company to compete against match, eharmony and the rest of the dating sites. Anything related to classifieds (real estate, autos etc) should be broken off to compete against Craigslist. etc etc. Yahoo should be an free online newspaper. Everything should be broken off as separate business units. Companies that try to be all things to all people lose. Yahoo has huge upside potential, but changes are needed.

Keep things in perspective. Who will care a year from now? What can you do today?

Jerry Yang must be the most stupid CEO there is. I hope he gets booted out and lose all his marbles.

TO: Yahoo! Finance User Hey, Pal, your buddy wasn't close to being right if he called MSFT bid "hot air." Ballmer offered $33.00 on Saturday - that makes your guy look like a dope. If he is being touted as a hero by the likes of you, it is only because most "financial advisers" can't beat the most common index. Now is he had said "Yang is as stupid as I am and he won't take the offer" - ah, then.... well, we have catch 22.

I don't understand this. If MSFT wanted Yahoo so bad, why didn't they just go into the market and buy shares? Is some super majority required, or is it 50% + 1 share to effectuate a special election of the board, at which time a merger would be approved?? Perhaps there are some "Poison Pills" floating around...

The comments by Henry Blodget and Aaron Task are NOT accurate when they speak of employees reacting with "shock and dismay"... as an employee of Yahoo!, I have't spoken to a single person who wanted this deal to succeed, under any circumstances (even at $37). Many of us, if we wanted to work for MS, would already be there.

Looks like we have many short term traders on the board looking to make a quick buck. I've got news for you guys, CEOs of $40 billion companies think much longer term than tomorrow and next week. YHOO is in bad shape; changes are definitely needed, but long term, I think they have more upside potential than MSFT. Don't confuse short term trading with long term investing.

Love msft or hate them, this was a gargantuan flub by Jerry Yang. Yhoo and msft have both been floundering in the internet advertising space. Its not that the combo would have been much better but it would have provided yhoo shareholders with an equity pop over their dwindling prospects with yhoo's dim future. One can still make $$ shorting yhoo at $24. Its clearly overpriced at this level, due to the sliim hope that msft will put it back in play sometime. However, from msft's vantage point, they won't be back anytime soon for $33. Yang's ego is much too big. He won't want to lose face over this. Yhoo shareholders will have to remove him, or he will appoint someone else to run the company who will likely be more accepting of a buyout. The problem is time is not on yhoo's side. With time, their value will dwindle, and msft may come back for a much lower price, maybe $25 when yhoo is trading at $13.