RSSLeaked Yahoo memo indicates reticence toward Microsoft bid
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published February 7, 2008, 11:09 AM
While Jerry Yang continues to advocate a bright and cheery attitude, there are clear indications that he's feeling trapped.
A Yahoo employees memo written yesterday by CEO Jerry Yang was leaked to the online industry publication Valleywag, and has apparently been verified by IDG through a check of the SEC database where such communications are also filed. The memo indicates that although Yang and his fellow executives have not yet reached a decision as to whether to accept Microsoft's takeover bid, his preference for now is to continue growing his company as though Microsoft had never said anything.
Writing in his trademark all-lowercase, Yang said, "the board [of directors] is focused on maximizing the value of yahoo!s tremendous assets for our shareholders. and it is going to take the time it needs to do it right."
The fact that Microsoft is interested in the company, Yang went on, underscores its value; and one element which makes it valuable, he listed, is "our open ad network." This refers to the advertising platform which Yahoo is continuing to develop, and to which Yahoo contributed greatly last year through the acquisition of the Right Media advertising exchange. Curiously, in its publicly distributed proposal letter last Friday, Microsoft made no mention of its interest in that component of Yahoo, instead touting the abilities of its own platform and citing the possibilities its own engineers could realize if Yahoo's engineers would join them.
The case could be made, therefore, that Yang -- knowing his memo would inevitably be leaked, and probably to Valleywag -- could be making indirect communication with Microsoft in lieu of formal negotiations, and may be making a signal here that Right Media, the next-generation Panama platform project, and all other Yahoo technology components must come with any deal. Yang may not yet be ready to formally lay down terms, though this could be the only means his board makes available to him today to tell Microsoft it does not get to pick and choose -- it's all or nothing.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal speculated that Yahoo's board, headed since just last Thursday night by new non-executive chairman Roy Bostock, is more actively considering an alliance with Google that would enable Yahoo to remain somewhat independent, if somewhat less competitive in the advertising space. Yang's memo yesterday makes no mention of Google.
He was probably drunk and/or stoned when he wrote it.lol
I think the Rahpsody was the worse deal of all time. Real audio is the worse piece of crap on the planet. Who ever does end up buying Yahoo (if its not MS), should get rid of that deal first. Makes me winder if the people at Yahoo aren't just messing up the company more on purpose because they know they're selling it to MS.
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Writing in his trademark all-lowercase,
Don't think it was because he was drunk. He's apparently chronically unprofessional.
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I was joking.
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Well, 10 for effort. :P
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Would you rather have CEO that doesn't use the shift key or one that throws chairs?
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I'd go with, "neither", though both could be highly paid consultants. That keeps them disassociated from the company and keeps them out of the spotlight.
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When you are the CEO, it doesn't matter if you are an idiot.
Then again look at the poor shape yahoo is in....
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It doesn't matter if you can shift planets, if one is purposefully unprofessional in one area, where is the guarantee they will be professional in any other area?
Hire them on as a planet mover and keep them out of the public eye, ffs, but don't make 'em CEO.
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Wow.
Ya know, I really don't care what this guy does or did...
If I received a communication like that from any of my employees, they'd likely be fired on the spot.
Punctuation, capitalization...anything resembling proper grammar; not there. All company communication should be professional in appearance, especially when it is likely to be seen by outside sources.
This thing, regardless of what was said, looks like something a six-year-old typed up (my apologies to six-year-olds who know better).
As an aside, I couldn't care less what people do in personal communication, they can use pig-latin for all I care, but that was simply unprofessional and almost painful to read.
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Agreed. Not conforming to grammar rules at this professional level is surprising. It reeks of teen spirit and immaturity.
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Agreed as well.
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If one of my employees called an e-mail a "communication," I wouldn't read it.
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Good luck with that.
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bad grammar. isn't bad; it's bad speleng tat's reely bad.
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I agree.
F7 damn you.
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