RSSUnsealed documents add to Yahoo-Microsoft drama
By Ed Oswald | Published June 3, 2008, 12:59 PM
Newly uncovered documents in Yahoo shareholders' battle with the company allege that CEO Jerry Yang worked actively to undermine a deal with Microsoft, perhaps in some cases unethically -- and possibly illegally.
Yahoo expressed disappointment that Delaware State Court Judge William B. Chandler, III decided yesterday to unseal the documents, which originally had appeared in redacted form a month earlier, though it maintained the suit was without merit.
The new details -- part of a shareholder complaint announced on May 6, filed May 12,and unsealed just yesterday (PDF available here from shareholders' attorneys) -- may also be of interest to investor Carl Icahn, who is leading a shareholder revolt to replace the company's board. If he is successful, talks with Microsoft would almost certainly begin anew.
The shareholders in question, led by the pension funds of municipal workers, police, and fire employees of the City of Detroit, have not necessarily aligned themselves with Icahn Partners.
However, probably of greatest significance to anyone seeking to unseat Yahoo's board next month, are allegations that Yang pushed for approval of an employee severance plan which would have made it far more expensive for Microsoft to acquire Yahoo. Under that plan, any of the company's 14,000 employees would be eligible to quit and receive benefits for two years.
This plan was pushed through, the shareholders' complaint alleges, even after a consulting firm "expressed reservations about the breadth of the program." While Microsoft had set aside $1.5 billion for employee retention, Yang's plan would have raised that to anywhere between $2.1 and 2.4 billion.
The newly unsealed complaint also seems to confirm the feeling among many that Yang holds a good deal of antipathy towards Microsoft, that he actively worked to find another suitor for his company, and that the Google deal may have been motivated by Microsoft's actions.
But even with respect to Google, things are not what they seem. The complaint also alleges that a day before Microsoft made its initial offer, executives rejected a search/advertising deal with the Mountain View, Calif. company over antitrust concerns. But Yahoo later opened itself up to the possibility of essentially the same deal in April.
LOL!
Death of MSFT? I didn't say DEATH. Hard to imagine MSFT going away completely any time soon. I think relevancy is the right idea though. We all still use telephones but Bell has gone away, phone booths are all but gone. MSFT mediocrity and mis-steps at search and advertising are the reason for grasping at Yahoo.
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|Microsoft isn't dead yet, but with Ballmer at the helm, they're working on it. Getting in bed with Mr. Icahn is only going to exacerbate the situation.
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|I really hope you guys aren't entering into some corporate "dead-pool" every year with this. It's only amusing until you start starving your children because of all the money you lose every year. ;)
...but I'm sure this is the year.
right?
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|This is nothing new in the business world people. Gates, Rockefeller, Hughes, W's friend Kenneth Lay from Enron all practiced tricks like this for generations. The press about it is merely part of their game. Don't buy into it unless you think fewer independents on the Internet is better. Does anyone believe that MS will make Yahoo! better? Will absorbing the assets of Yahoo! (that IS how MS looks at it) re-invent MS products? I think not on both of those. I don't think Yahoo! is going to be enough to keep Redmond relevant.
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|I don't think Yahoo! is going to be enough to keep Redmond relevant.
Lookit!!
Another one claiming the death of MSFT. This time he really means it.
*laughing*
You guys are a riot...
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|LOL!
Death of MSFT? I didn't say DEATH. Hard to imagine MSFT going away completely any time soon. I think relevancy is the right idea though. We all still use telephones but Bell has gone away, phone booths are all but gone. MSFT mediocrity and mis-steps at search and advertising are the reason for grasping at Yahoo.
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|*Sigh*
Did he think he'd get away with it?
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|What a bunch of idiots. I know people don't like MS, but as a business what the heck do you care? MS is looking to buy you for more than you are worth, so you blow it by not taking them serious and trying to sequeeze as much money as possible out of them...if they took the bait. Guess what Jerry...no bait and now Sir Carl I...is gonna eat ya for lunch.
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|NO!!! A CEO being unethical?? And not working for a bank!!
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|Amazingly, not every CEO out there makes it into the news. In fact, the *vast* and *innumerable* majority of them never do anything worth getting them reported on by a media circus that focuses *only* on what people do *wrong* and never on what they've done *right*.
It may be hard to believe, but not every CEO is a backstabbing, lying, conniving, unethical SOB. Most, in fact, are the complete opposite.
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|Hopefully Jerry won't find himself in prison when this is all done with.
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|And if he does, that would be funny.
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|so, they see the writing on the wall, try to make themselves attractive for sale, attract someone; and then say, "nope, not you!" Nice. If this isn't illegal in the public sector, I don't know what is... This seems really shady; and down right dirty to me.
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|I don't think Carl Icahn needs any help but he's going to get some anyways.
I'm sure he's going through those papers and taking a few moments here and there to do a victory dance.
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|After this revelation Yahoo is done.
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