Yang’s power play

By Scott Moritz, writer

There may be more than money to consider in the Microsoft-Yahoo standoff.

Microsoft (MSFT) has given Yahoo a deadline of Saturday to accept its buyout offer (or, presumably, at least at start serious talks) or risk triggering a hostile takeover battle. Yahoo wants a higher offer — a demand that Microsoft has so far rebuffed.

But the focus on price may be missing a key subtlety behind the impasse.

One possible stumbling block might be Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang’s role in a combined company. As displeased as Yang may be by the prospect of joining forces with Yahoo’s culturally-mismatched rival, some observers say he could be open to a leadership role in the merged Internet division.

“I’ve always believed Jerry Yang wants do something bigger with Yahoo,” as opposed to watching it dissolve into the works of a bigger company, says an analyst who has known Yang since Yahoo went public in 1996. ”He’s Jerry Yahoo, that’s really who he is.”

Yahoo has been exploring other options, including a possible tie up with the AOL division of Time Warner (TWX) and an advertising partnership with rival Google (GOOG) to help outsource some of its ads and trim costs. But almost any type of hookup between the No.1 and No.2 online ad giants seemed fraught with antitrust concerns.

Without a better offer in sight, Yang and the board will likely have to sit down with Microsoft over the weekend and negotiate. If Microsoft told Yang that he would play a top role in the combined company, it might sway the Yahoo founder, says the analyst, who did not want to be identified.

“He’s already a billionaire,” adds the analyst, referring to Yang. “What he wants is his brand to be massive. When the history of the Internet is written it will feature names like [Amazon (AMZN) chief Jeff] Bezos, [Google CEO] Schmidt, Page, [AOL founder Steve] Case. Yang wants to be there.”

Stay tuned.

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Filed under Advertising, Amazon, Facebook, Internet, Microsoft-Yahoo, microsoft

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So this is not really about what is best for the shareholder…. It is about what is best for the CEO. That is why merger holdouts are a scam. The shareholders get suckered and the parachute become super golden for the top execs.

Posted By tim : April 27, 2008 1:13 pm

I see disaster
creeping out of every possible corner
those money pundits are all pep talk
desprately trying to stave off the final big blow
this past six months is just the ruckus of the bull in a cage
and as the bear is dead and in decay
the bull is going to break out of its cage
and wreak havoc throughout the world
and this current disputed recession will seem like the glory days

the grapes of wrath are coming back
history is unavoidably cyclical
and so is America being on top

There is no one to point a finger at
except the few in power
and the abstract masses that gives it to them

The Mutated Elephant sucked
but we’re the idiots that put him there…twice

even if he stole it
no one in power would stand up to it
except some wacky guy
who believes in aliens

America was wise when it was born,
it’s like we started old and wise,
then kicked it to reverse
now we’re just one big decadent baby
who’s about to find out
what it’s like to be hungry

well the cycles tumble with unstoppable momentum
the fed is just shooting a 22 at a speeding bullet train
like a spider web trying to stop a falling boulder

and our tax cuts are compliments of the generous lending
of those current Olympian hosts in the East
whose communism now includes Wal Mart and McDonalds

When they become number one
they’ll be our daddy
and they won’t even need nukes to do it
we’ll just give ourselves over to them at wholesale interest rates
that we haven’t even the means to pay

We need to leave the elephants and donkeys
in the zoo where they belong
we need to be owls
and put wisdom first

they were giving donuts out at work today
i eagerly grabbed two and whisked off to my desk
the guy next to me begged me for the second one
and we’re making fairly well above minimum wage

the McDonalds dollar menuaire choices are cheaper than groceries
and Coca Cola is five times cheaper than orange juice
the only stability in the food economy
is in the junk food in the vending machines

we’re going to frugal ourselves to death on top of all of our other problems

Posted By Josh, Tucson, AZ : April 25, 2008 11:27 pm

You think Steve Case will be included, but Jerry Yang won’t? You think AOL had a bigger impact on the internet than Yahoo?

Posted By Thomas, San Francisco, CA : April 25, 2008 6:36 pm

Yang would be a fool to believe the promises. He will get ground between the stones.

Posted By Frymaster, Pawtucket, RI : April 25, 2008 4:40 pm

Google founders are Brin & Page (not Schmidt).

Posted By Ed Padva (Columbus,Oh) : April 25, 2008 3:31 pm

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