yang

While speaking in Moscow, Microsoft CEO and Yahoo suitor Steve Ballmer said, "Yahoo was never the strategy we were pursuing, it was a way to accelerate our online advertising business...We will spend money on some acquisitions. You can do a whole lot of things with 50 billion dollars."

In support of Ballmer's recent remarks, Microsoft officials maintain that Yahoo has always been part of "a" strategy, and not "the" strategy.

Yahoo is a means to an end. Of course, Microsoft was primarily interested in the search piece, but they apparently thought that … Read more

If Jerry Yang does lose his job as the result of a deal between Yahoo and Microsoft, the Stanford connection may prove its worth.

"Jerry is very talented and if he wants to work at Google we'd be very excited to have him, but I don't think that's going to happen," the BBC quoted Google co-founder (and fellow Stanford alum) Sergey Brin. He was responding to a question whether Google would ever consider employing Yang if Yahoo's chief executive lost his job.

Brin is huddling this week with the other two-thirds of Google's … Read more

Jerry Yang was able to rope-a-dope Steve Ballmer. But he's never had to square off against a royal pain in the ass like Carl Icahn.

This afternoon, Icahn, a billionaire with a God complex--or is that repetitive?--wrote a new chapter in this deliciously goofy Microhoo saga when he launched plans for a proxy contest to challenge Yahoo's famously feckless board of directors with his own handpicked nominees.

Talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

The problem for Yang is that he's over-matched. We're talking about a geek going up against one … Read more

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't believe I've ever seen a negotiation handled, with all due respect, as dysfunctionally and amateurishly as the way Yahoo has handled its negotiation with Microsoft.

Saturday's shenanigans seemed more like a reality television show than two industry giants sitting down to negotiate a deal.

Unfortunately, negotiating with Microsoft is not a job for amateurs. There was a time when the two companies were more-or-less evenly positioned in this dual, but that time has come and gone. The weekend's activities have left Microsoft holding all the cards.… Read more

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang talked to a few press outlets Monday, opening the door to further negotiations if Microsoft is willing to show him the money, or what he considers the appropriate price.

Microsoft's final bid was $33 and Yahoo held out for $37, or something close to that number, but Ballmer decided on Saturday not to continue the courtship. With Yahoo flaunting its possible ad serving deal with Google and holding out for an 80 percent premium over the January 31 closing stock price, Yang appeared to overplay his hand.

According to Reuters, Yang said it was Microsoft … Read more

Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo is behind the company for now, but Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang took pains Sunday to indicate the company has not entered a complacent phase.

"No one is celebrating about the outcome of these past three months...and no one should," Yang said in a post on the Yahoo's corporate blog. "We live and work in a competitive world, and the Web is only going to get more competitive. Executing on our strategic plan is what matters most."

And apparently taking to heart the words of Friedrich Nietzsche--that which … Read more

In a memo to Yahoo employees, co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang asked his troops to redouble their efforts and to focus on executing what he called the most important transition in the company's history. It was the expected post-game motivational speech after declining to take Microsoft $33 per share offer.

On Monday Yang, will face some irate investors and employees. The stock is expected to head south at the market open. He will need to provide more evidence than slideware about doubling operating cash flow in three years that Yahoo has a plan to grow revenue and profits ahead … Read more

This is the text of the e-mail Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang sent to his company's staff Saturday after Microsoft withdrew its offer to acquire the Internet pioneer.

From: jerry yang To: [Yahoo Employees] Sent: Sat May 03 19:26 2008 Subject: today's news

yahoos,

today microsoft announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire yahoo!. from the beginning of this process, our independent board and leadership team have maintained that microsoft's offer undervalues the company, and we're pleased that many of our shareholders agreed with us. our board and leadership team now remain focused … Read more

In a special edition of the Gillmor Gang, Steve Gillmor, Mike Arrington, Doc Searls, Dana Gardner, Robert Anderson, Robert Scoble and I discuss Microsoft's decision to walk away from its bid to acquire Yahoo.

The consensus: Google is a big winner, Microsoft is not dead, and lives to bid another day, and Yahoo better be able to execute with precision on its strategy or it faces difficult times and a less lucrative result for shareholders.

Listen to the show