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Shareholder Backs Yahoo!, Supports Independence

Posted by Zonk on from the settle-back-folks-going-to-take-a-while dept.

mikkl666 writes "In a follow-up to yesterday's story about the struggle between Microsoft and Yahoo!, major Yahoo! shareholder Legg Mason has announced that they are ready to back the company in their effort to keep out of Microsoft's grip. According to portfolio manager Bill Miller, 'the problem is Microsoft blundered with the letter this weekend. Telling the shareholders you're going to take something away from them is not a way to get their support'. Nevertheless, he believes Microsoft will end up paying what it takes to own Yahoo."

4 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. What is MS hoping to gain exactly? by jfbilodeau · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it just me, or is there only chaos and mayhem in store if MS tries to merge with Yahoo? They are two incompatible business and I can't see what MS would gain from their multi-billion dollars 'investment'. Why does IBM & Lotus come to mind right now?

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    1. Re:What is MS hoping to gain exactly? by zappepcs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      1 - embrace, extend
      2 - send threatening letter
      3 - lose shareholder support
      4 - throw chairs
      5 - remove legislator funding to pay off shareholders
      6 - merge companies
      7 - lay off good workers who have not yet left
      8 - pay millions to change logos, make announcements
      9 - pay off MSN staff
      10 ...
      11 profit!^H^H^H^H^H Watch Google grow exponentially

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    2. Re:What is MS hoping to gain exactly? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Yes there will be chaos. Many people like myself can see major problems in the merger.

      The first being the technologies. Yahoo tries to be platform agnostic. They use whatever works best and is cheapest. Right now they support a lot of BSD projects. Microsoft mandates Windows. The conversion of hotmail years back was a major hassle for MS. That was just one system. Yahoo is much larger than that. That conversion will take lots of time and effort.

      The second issue is the cultures. I offer no opinion on which culture is "better", but they are different. Now MS is coming in as a hostile takeover. That is not going to sit well with Yahoo employees. On the other side, MS people may not want to bring in Yahoo people.

      Third, large scale mergers like this almost never work. AOL-Time Warner. Daimer-Chrylser. Recent history has shown that failure happens more often than naught. And those mergers were approved by both companies involved.

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  2. Go for it Bill! by pegr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While I would hate to see Yahoo! bite the dust (more for historical reasons), it would be great for MS to flush a stack of cash, as I can see MS doing nothing but destroying what little is left of them.

    Yes, MS, cash out everyone still hanging on to that sinking tub! The faster MS runs out of cash, the sooner we get to enjoy a world without them.

    As for Yahoo!, I remember when you all didn't suck. Yep, you and HP...