As predicted Microsoft is back in for Yahoo although this time it is not a takeover which is proposed, rather a search deal. I can see two explanations for this, one is that MS wants to spike Google’s guns and the other is that they are pulling the classic estate agent’s trick of showing you a shocking house then taking you to a reasonable one. The mistake Ballmer made last time was to show Jerry the nice $33 per share house first, before taking him to the crappy search deal shack.
Even better from Ballmer’s point of view is that this time a host of angry shareholders have reddened Jerry’s cheeks after the last deal fell through. What Yahoo’s shareholders really want is perfectly simple: money. The current Yahoo board may have some philosophical objection to Microsoft money but the shareholders don’t care. They have had enough of Yang, Bostock et al farting around and now they want the cash. To them a search deal is worthless. As Wesley Snipes said in New Jack City, money talks and bullshit runs the marathon.
Microsoft will play them around for a while longer with this nonsense then put the $33 offer back on the table (or the $31 if they are feeling cruel) then let the Yahoo shareholders’ hungry bellies do the rest.
