Can Yang dance with the heavyweight champ?
If Jerry Yang and Yahoo really get into a hostile takeover fight with Steve Ballmer and Microsoft, my money's on the big guy from Redmond.
The first time I met Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, I was running on two hours sleep from a nasty bout of food poisoning. Now if you've ever met Ballmer, a big, garrulous man with a booming voice and meaty hands that always seem to be waving in the air, you'd know he's not the kind of guy you want to be interviewing in a weakened state.
Steve Ballmer is ready to brawl with Yahoo
(Credit: Dan Farber)I'm trying to imagine Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang -- a not so big, not so garrulous man with neither a booming voice nor meaty, waving hands -- in a room with Ballmer and asking myself: Just how far over his head is Yang? Will he come out this bloody and dazed, a sad imitation of boxer Michael Spinks' 91-second loss to Mike Tyson in 1988? Or will he be Rocky, the moral victor but ultimate loser in a (let's be clear here folks, it was just a movie) fictional match with Apollo Creed?
Does Jerry Yang have a prayer in a takeover bout with Steve Ballmer?
We all figured it would come to this: While you were enjoying the spring weather over the weekend, Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo's board of directors threatening to go hostile in three weeks if the search company doesn't sit down for substantive takeover talks. Yang, not so surprisingly, responded in a letter Monday morning that implied Ballmer was guilty of obfuscation at best and lying at worst about whether meetings had already occurred between the two companies.
Despite the endless possibilities of Barbarians at the Gate metaphors, boxing seems more appropriate for now. It hasn't quite come to mounting the heads of Yahoo execs on pikes alongside Silicon Valley's Rte. 101. But the dueling letters are starting to reveal a level of snippiness not seen since Ballmer and Bill Gates were trading snarks with Sun CEO Scott McNealy over who did what to Java and when.
Is this about to get nasty? You bet, which brings me back to that meeting I had with Ballmer. It was 2004, in a windowless conference room at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco. The other guy at the table was then-Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy. The bitter and very public rivals had just announced they were settling their longtime feud over antitrust issues and Java for $1.95 billion and an agreement to work on technical issues.
Jerry Yang will be tested in a fight with Microsoft
(Credit: Dan Farber)McNealy is a giant personality, one of the funniest people you'll ever meet in the tech industry. He's also a tough nut, an amateur ice hockey player with a reputation, friends tell me, of being that guy who drives you nuts on the ice. But in a room with Ballmer, he looked...small. Despite McNealy's considerable success and deserved confidence, there was no question who was the big personality in the room.
Jerry Yang isn't Scott McNealy. Not even close. He doesn't have the track record in the corner office (remember that before Terry Semel, Tim Koogle was actually running Yahoo) and he doesn't command the respect McNealy did in Silicon Valley or on Wall Street. Yang, many believe, is a fine technologist who was supposed to be a placeholder until Yahoo president Sue Decker was ready to take over the company. But a corporate titan? No way.
Now Yang is getting close to stepping into a hostile takeover fight with Ballmer. The squeamish part of me wants to look away, but the voyeur is really wondering what Yang look like when this is all over.
Jim Kerstetter has been writing about the high-tech industry for more than 13 years, as a senior editor at PC Week, a Silicon Valley correspondent at BusinessWeek, and now an executive editor at CNET News. He moved back to Boston because he missed the Red Sox. E-mail Jim. 
pitched and breaks all the time.
The author's point however, was not to argue how squeaky you think his voice is, but instead was about presence. Ballmer is a huge presence no matter where he goes, whereas Yang, in my own opinion, does not have the reputation nor the experience in making waves like Ballmer does. It may be a tough fight, but Yahoo! is seriously outmatched and underweight in this contest.
pitched and breaks all the time.
The author's point however, was not to argue how squeaky you think his voice is, but instead was about presence. Ballmer is a huge presence no matter where he goes, whereas Yang, in my own opinion, does not have the reputation nor the experience in making waves like Ballmer does. It may be a tough fight, but Yahoo! is seriously outmatched and underweight in this contest.
believe that money/"might" makes right. Add to that MS's "buy-it-
and-suckify-it" tendencies and it's time that this kind of business
as usual be stopped.
Give Ballmer, hell, Jerry. Lord knows giving him gel won't do any
good.
believe that money/"might" makes right. Add to that MS's "buy-it-
and-suckify-it" tendencies and it's time that this kind of business
as usual be stopped.
Give Ballmer, hell, Jerry. Lord knows giving him gel won't do any
good.
blogs are so PRO-Microsoft its beyond funny. Its as if they want
Ballmer & his cronies taking over Yahoo. It's no wonder
NEWS.com stock is tanking. Its sinking because of their blatantly
bias pro Microsoft advertorials. Nobody wants to believe a liar,
or advertise with a liar or invest in a liar. And I'm not going to
feel sorry when NEWs.com sinks. They've taken such a one-
sided pro Microsoft approach to tech news all these years. It's
about time they go under. NEWs.com needs a new board one
with integrity who's not afraid to say no to a cheap handout.
I haven't seen one article about Yahoo here that looks on the
brighter side of the company or which shows Yahoo becoming
successful (against Google) without Microsoft. Not one!
Almost every CNET article and blog I've come across in the past
month almost always makes Jerry Yang look like a goof. Granted
there are some characteristics that make him look like a major
geek but CNET is taking this to the extreme, just stoping short
of becoming racist & stereo-typical then making Microsoft look
like a champion or a knight in shining armor.
However in reality!! it's totally the opposite! Ballmer & Microsoft
are the desperate beggars and Jerry Yang is the one in the driver
seat. He has the choice to go it alone (because after all it is his
company) or sell out to the devil.
Jerry Yang in all accounts doesn't want to sell to Microsoft. I say
if the shareholders aren't with him. Screw the shareholders! Jerry
Yang made a lot of people rich and it would be nice of CNET to
take light of that and give him the respect he deserves. Like how
the article on QuarkXpress on how quark is turning over a new
leaf! NEWs.com - what a joke!
What planet are you from, son? That's not how things here in the big sand lot called business.
Listen, if Yang wants to stick to his principles and ignore the will of his shareholders, he'll be doing it from the privacy of his home in short order. One way or another, this deal is going through, with or without Yang.
-Mister Winky
I find it hard to imagine that he won't, it's not technologists who are the target here, it's business people and as a business man Steve will be more on their wavelength.
I don't think Jerry Yang is a goof, and I think that one could read this article without taking it as something negative against Yang. It's just a statement of opinion that in this particular contest he is outclassed. It will probably prove to be true.
blogs are so PRO-Microsoft its beyond funny. Its as if they want
Ballmer & his cronies taking over Yahoo. It's no wonder
NEWS.com stock is tanking. Its sinking because of their blatantly
bias pro Microsoft advertorials. Nobody wants to believe a liar,
or advertise with a liar or invest in a liar. And I'm not going to
feel sorry when NEWs.com sinks. They've taken such a one-
sided pro Microsoft approach to tech news all these years. It's
about time they go under. NEWs.com needs a new board one
with integrity who's not afraid to say no to a cheap handout.
I haven't seen one article about Yahoo here that looks on the
brighter side of the company or which shows Yahoo becoming
successful (against Google) without Microsoft. Not one!
Almost every CNET article and blog I've come across in the past
month almost always makes Jerry Yang look like a goof. Granted
there are some characteristics that make him look like a major
geek but CNET is taking this to the extreme, just stoping short
of becoming racist & stereo-typical then making Microsoft look
like a champion or a knight in shining armor.
However in reality!! it's totally the opposite! Ballmer & Microsoft
are the desperate beggars and Jerry Yang is the one in the driver
seat. He has the choice to go it alone (because after all it is his
company) or sell out to the devil.
Jerry Yang in all accounts doesn't want to sell to Microsoft. I say
if the shareholders aren't with him. Screw the shareholders! Jerry
Yang made a lot of people rich and it would be nice of CNET to
take light of that and give him the respect he deserves. Like how
the article on QuarkXpress on how quark is turning over a new
leaf! NEWs.com - what a joke!
What planet are you from, son? That's not how things here in the big sand lot called business.
Listen, if Yang wants to stick to his principles and ignore the will of his shareholders, he'll be doing it from the privacy of his home in short order. One way or another, this deal is going through, with or without Yang.
-Mister Winky
I find it hard to imagine that he won't, it's not technologists who are the target here, it's business people and as a business man Steve will be more on their wavelength.
I don't think Jerry Yang is a goof, and I think that one could read this article without taking it as something negative against Yang. It's just a statement of opinion that in this particular contest he is outclassed. It will probably prove to be true.
Microsoft has CLEARLY admitted defeat after 10 years (and 10s of billions of dollars) of trying to be THE internet company.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has been equally unimpressive at acquiring companies and making them work.
Can you think of ANY acquisition in the past 10 years that has been a hands-down succcess?
There are none
EMC's purchase of VMware has been *very* successful. VMware still leads the virtualization market and the 10% IPO went well last year.
I'd say Google's acquisitions of Picassa and YouTube have gone pretty well.
Apple's acquisition of eMagic has gone very well. Apple took the audio engine from Logic Audio and turned it into Garage Band, Soundtrack and Logic Pro. Also, it could be argued that Apple's acquisition of NeXT went OK seeing how it partially led to OS X.
Microsoft's acquisiton of Great Plains Software has also gone well. As I understand it, MS has done a good job selling that package into small to mid-size businesses.
There are others, but it can fairly be said that bigger acquisitions are always more difficult than small ones.
-MisterWinky
Microsoft has CLEARLY admitted defeat after 10 years (and 10s of billions of dollars) of trying to be THE internet company.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has been equally unimpressive at acquiring companies and making them work.
Can you think of ANY acquisition in the past 10 years that has been a hands-down succcess?
There are none
EMC's purchase of VMware has been *very* successful. VMware still leads the virtualization market and the 10% IPO went well last year.
I'd say Google's acquisitions of Picassa and YouTube have gone pretty well.
Apple's acquisition of eMagic has gone very well. Apple took the audio engine from Logic Audio and turned it into Garage Band, Soundtrack and Logic Pro. Also, it could be argued that Apple's acquisition of NeXT went OK seeing how it partially led to OS X.
Microsoft's acquisiton of Great Plains Software has also gone well. As I understand it, MS has done a good job selling that package into small to mid-size businesses.
There are others, but it can fairly be said that bigger acquisitions are always more difficult than small ones.
-MisterWinky
Pre-merger this headliner is about the Chairmen of their Boards, Roy Bostock versus Bill Gates. Bostock is no stranger to corporate brawling, coming from the advertising industry. Gates usually leaves these things in his fellow Directors' hands but this isn't "usually" and - I believe - Gates will be a healthy, pacifying force on Ballmer.
Neither firm is short on heavyduty Directors. Personally, I don't give a damn if their merge or not. The easy money's been made long ago on shorting YHOO's stock. Til this deal is done, it should keep trading within a tight range around its current price, if the options traders behave consistently which they all do.
These guys do the deal - it's a spectacular deal for Yahoo and both companies know it - Microsoft feels they need Yahoo and buys them before June 1st, subject to regulatory approval.
Then, it's between Yang and Ballmer to duke it out for management control of the merged company. Yang isn't right to run one of world's five largest public companies and I'm sure Ballmer and Yang agree on that already.
They'll give Jerry some cool title and radical pay package and tell him he can basically do whatever he wants within his sandbox. His sandbox for sure contains Yahoo Search and MSN Live Search, but what else beyond search boss, who knows?
He is so obsessed with Google, who really isn't a competitor to Microsoft that he is willing to risk everything to try and beat them.
Buying Yahoo is not the answer. Going into debt to try an assimilate an unwilling company guarantees that.
If anything it is MS stockholders that should be reigning MS in. MS stock is very weak, going into debt and essentially having to merge all the operations over the next few years is not going to do anything for stockholder.
If monkey boy wants to destroy MS on his way out the door, he is welcome to do it. It will be fun to watch.
If MS wants to compete with Google, they are going to have to become far more agile, and that means cutting the massive dead weight it already carries, not add more.
Pre-merger this headliner is about the Chairmen of their Boards, Roy Bostock versus Bill Gates. Bostock is no stranger to corporate brawling, coming from the advertising industry. Gates usually leaves these things in his fellow Directors' hands but this isn't "usually" and - I believe - Gates will be a healthy, pacifying force on Ballmer.
Neither firm is short on heavyduty Directors. Personally, I don't give a damn if their merge or not. The easy money's been made long ago on shorting YHOO's stock. Til this deal is done, it should keep trading within a tight range around its current price, if the options traders behave consistently which they all do.
These guys do the deal - it's a spectacular deal for Yahoo and both companies know it - Microsoft feels they need Yahoo and buys them before June 1st, subject to regulatory approval.
Then, it's between Yang and Ballmer to duke it out for management control of the merged company. Yang isn't right to run one of world's five largest public companies and I'm sure Ballmer and Yang agree on that already.
They'll give Jerry some cool title and radical pay package and tell him he can basically do whatever he wants within his sandbox. His sandbox for sure contains Yahoo Search and MSN Live Search, but what else beyond search boss, who knows?
He is so obsessed with Google, who really isn't a competitor to Microsoft that he is willing to risk everything to try and beat them.
Buying Yahoo is not the answer. Going into debt to try an assimilate an unwilling company guarantees that.
If anything it is MS stockholders that should be reigning MS in. MS stock is very weak, going into debt and essentially having to merge all the operations over the next few years is not going to do anything for stockholder.
If monkey boy wants to destroy MS on his way out the door, he is welcome to do it. It will be fun to watch.
If MS wants to compete with Google, they are going to have to become far more agile, and that means cutting the massive dead weight it already carries, not add more.
Yahoo is TOTALLY going to be worse off under Microsoft....
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Article: ANALYSIS-Microsoft-Yahoo war may spur Alibaba buyback
Date: Monday April 7 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk - Guardian of the UK
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7443026
[SNIP]
SHANGHAI/NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Chinese Internet firm Alibaba is set to speed up plans to buy back a near 40 percent stake owned by Yahoo Inc, as Microsoft Corp threatens to go hostile with a lower bid for Yahoo.
Alibaba, keen to calm Beijing's fears that Microsoft's planned $42 billion takeover of Yahoo would increase foreign influence over China's leading Internet firms, wants to fund a buyback of all or part of the 39 percent stake Yahoo owns, said a person familiar with the Chinese firm's plans.
[/SNIP]
PROOF THAT MICROSOFT WILL MAKE YAHOO WORSE OF AS IT ALREADY IS DOING.
- Microsoft hasn't even purchased Yahoo and already it is sinking.
- by JCPayne April 8, 2008 6:29 AM PDT
- Look at this... The prospect of a Yahoo buyout is causing Alibaba to seek their shares back....
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (42 Comments)Yahoo is TOTALLY going to be worse off under Microsoft....
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Article: ANALYSIS-Microsoft-Yahoo war may spur Alibaba buyback
Date: Monday April 7 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk - Guardian of the UK
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7443026
[SNIP]
SHANGHAI/NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Chinese Internet firm Alibaba is set to speed up plans to buy back a near 40 percent stake owned by Yahoo Inc, as Microsoft Corp threatens to go hostile with a lower bid for Yahoo.
Alibaba, keen to calm Beijing's fears that Microsoft's planned $42 billion takeover of Yahoo would increase foreign influence over China's leading Internet firms, wants to fund a buyback of all or part of the 39 percent stake Yahoo owns, said a person familiar with the Chinese firm's plans.
[/SNIP]
PROOF THAT MICROSOFT WILL MAKE YAHOO WORSE OF AS IT ALREADY IS DOING.