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Ballmer, Yang Agree to See Other People

Saturday, May 03, 2008 | 10:07 PM

in Corporate Management | Federal Reserve | M&A

Its not you, its me . . .

Is that it? After all that sturm und drang, the chase ends like this? Microsoft sweetened its offer to $33, knowing full well that Yahoo was going to stand firm at $37 a share, and reject the sweetened bid. Hence, Ballmer got his face saving way to walk without further humiliation.

Why am I not surprised? Two of the least sexy internet names end not with a bang but a thud. Could we have seen at last the end of the dinosaur mating dance?

My friend Paul at Infectious Greed observes:

"This has a been a risky and poorly managed affair from end-to-end. Both CEOs deserve immense blame -- Ballmer for vacillating; Yang for running a public company without the foremost regard for shareholders -- and they are likely to be the two people who suffer the most indignities (including possible termination) over the coming weeks and months."

Not a bad sentiment, but I doubt either board has the stones to fire their execs.

I have an idea for everybody involved: Why doesn't the Fed kick in the additional $8 billion or so to make this happen? I mean, isn't that the role of the central bank?

Source:
Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo
MIGUEL HELFT and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
NYT, May 4, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/technology/04soft.html

Microsoft withdraws offer for Yahoo
Anupreeta Das
Yahoo Finance, 26 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080504/bs_nm/microsoft_yahoo_dc_12