Yahoo Microsoft

The possible acquisition of Yahoo! by Microsoft is one of the biggest moves to control the Internet. According to CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo is all about growing in online stature to rival Google while benefitting from shared costs and operational efficiencies. By buying Yahoo, Microsoft hopes to cobble together something that can compete with Google in terms of size. Growth the way Google originally succeeded, by offering better search results or using a better business model, is no longer an option in a market that has matured.

Based on my findings and analysis, Jerry Yang is the putative culprit that stops the merging of the two companies. It's his baby, after all. In 1994 Jerry Yang birthed an Internet web site named after him - "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" - and since then they've been inseparable. It was then formally christened - Yahoo! Inc. - the relationship between parent and child has remained close.

With the full backing of his board, Yang decided to reject Microsoft's offer to buy his baby. He claimed that it was all about price, that Yahoo was worth more than the $33 a share that constituted Microsoft's final bid. This remark was merely an excuse to reject the bid. Yang never really did want to sell, never really did want to part with the company with which he has been inextricably entwined since its inception. [HarvestReviews http://blogs.hbr.org/kellerman/2008/05] Microsoft has then decided to abandon its blockbuster bid to acquire the internet giant Yahoo! Yang is being criticized, and loudly to have made this culpable decision as he did not show much regard for shareholders' best interests in this process.

Is this a good move for Microsoft? The answer is yes. Yahoo stock has been relatively undervalued for some time. I felt that Mr Ballmer has made the correct decision. "Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer," Mr Ballmer said....