Yahoo Might Merge With AOL, Or Kill Themselves
In a mildly comical turn of events, the people running Yahoo are apparently trying to patch together a merger with AOL as a sort of "poison pill" move that would make them unavailable for purchase by Microsoft. That seems unlikely, since Google owns a substantial share of AOL, so would likely run afoul of regulatory agencies as a de facto monopoly; Google and Yahoo are number one and number two in search. Barricading themselves in their offices with hostages seems a possibility if something else doesn't come along.
Microsoft, whose offer for Yahoo is now worth $41.2 billion, was preparing to escalate its takeover fight by starting a proxy contest next week. But in an effort to delay that move, Yahoo is considering several options, including a plan to postpone its annual meeting, people close to the company said on Tuesday.
The maneuver comes as Yahoo has stepped up merger and joint venture talks with AOL, a unit of Time Warner, these people said.
Microsoft had been preparing to nominate a slate of directors to the board of Yahoo by next Thursday, the deadline for mounting a proxy contest. If Yahoo moves back that deadline back or postpones its meeting, something it could announce as early as this week, the company could buy time to seek out and evaluating alternatives.
Sooner or later the question has to be asked: If the executives running Yahoo will do anything to avoid being taken over by Microsoft, including things that are in the best interest of nobody but themselves, and they are not serving the interests of their shareholders, shouldn't they be fired? "I hate Microsoft" is the attitude of a cranky blog commenter, not an executive of a multi-billion dollar company.
Microsoft, whose offer for Yahoo is now worth $41.2 billion, was preparing to escalate its takeover fight by starting a proxy contest next week. But in an effort to delay that move, Yahoo is considering several options, including a plan to postpone its annual meeting, people close to the company said on Tuesday.The maneuver comes as Yahoo has stepped up merger and joint venture talks with AOL, a unit of Time Warner, these people said.
Microsoft had been preparing to nominate a slate of directors to the board of Yahoo by next Thursday, the deadline for mounting a proxy contest. If Yahoo moves back that deadline back or postpones its meeting, something it could announce as early as this week, the company could buy time to seek out and evaluating alternatives.
Sooner or later the question has to be asked: If the executives running Yahoo will do anything to avoid being taken over by Microsoft, including things that are in the best interest of nobody but themselves, and they are not serving the interests of their shareholders, shouldn't they be fired? "I hate Microsoft" is the attitude of a cranky blog commenter, not an executive of a multi-billion dollar company.
