pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
|  Why Turn Down Free Money?
What was Yahoo thinking? Microsoft was offering them what, $44 billion more than what the company was worth! Considering that Yahoo is about as irrelevant to the Internet now as Infoseek, Go, Excite, and just about every other dot-com that has come and gone, they should have jumped on this deal!
I hope the shareholders of Yahoo hold the executives accountable for this mistake. Take away their golden parachutes (which the executives must have, because that's the only explanation for this boneheaded idiocy).
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! |
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firephoto
KDE
Premium
join:2003-03-18
 ·Verizon west (ex G..
| Yes, how dare they try to protect their employees future and piss off a few investors that don't give a crap about what the company does other than make them vacation time.
This is the whole problem with our current mindset on publicly traded companies. Many won't think twice if the company doesn't exist tomorrow and their own money is in the next great thing.
Microsoft getting control of Yahoo essentially dooms all the Yahoo employees that actually make Yahoo what it is and leaves it with something Joe Nascar thinks is cooler for a week before something else shiny catches their attention. |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to pnh102
I would just say that they(yahoo) had morals. Sometimes doing the "right thing" is more important than money. Something that I think the world has forgotten. For at least the last ten years (not always) M$ has proven itself to be harmful and amoral. It would appear that even Gates has seen this with his attempt at making amends(his foundation). I am all for companies making a profit, but there has to be "some" limits on how far one can go. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to firephoto
Hate to tell you but employees don't matter. Shareholders do. The job of Yahoo is to enrich its shareholders.
As for innovation, what exactly has Yahoo innovated recently? They're going nowhere. Enriching the shareholders with free money from Microsoft would have been the right thing to do.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to Lazlow
said by Lazlow  :I would just say that they(yahoo) had morals. What morals? Yahoo is going nowhere. The only moral thing for the company to do would be to enrich its shareholders.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! |
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BabyBear
Keep wise ...with Night-Owl
join:2007-01-11
| reply to Lazlow
said by Lazlow : M$ has proven itself to be harmful and amoral. Yeah, just look at Vista!  *rimshot*
Couldn't help myself, I apologize.  Vista is Microsoft's Daiktana.  |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to pnh102
pnh102
I disagree. If there is a monster in a cage and you unlock the door to the cage, you are responsible for what the monster does. Yahoo choosing not to sell to M$ is keeping the monster in its cage. I have little doubt that it will cost the share holders money. But it is still the right thing to do. |
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tshirt
Premium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
·Comcast
| reply to Lazlow
said by Lazlow :I would just say that they(yahoo) had morals........... So, At $44B it's moral to hold out, but if you can hold out for $50B it's moral to sell out?
sounds totally profit driven, without thought to the employees future
said by Lazlow : For at least the last ten years (not always) M$ has proven itself to be harmful and amoral. ........... Seems to be a popular spin, but some of us see it as working hard to drive an industry, make money for investors, provide 77,000 employees (and hundreds of thousands of other people) good paying jobs.
said by Lazlow :It would appear that even Gates has seen this with his attempt at making amends(his foundation). Bill Gates in no way feels guilty about his success, he work hard to get there and now chooses to spend his fortune trying to make the world a better place.
said by Lazlow :I am all for companies making a profit, but there has to be "some" limits on how far one can go. So no limits on those are unable to master their market, but cap those who have continuously made and sold what the vast majority of people will buy? |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| I would make a pretty fair bet that they new M$ would not go that high.
The question is how many jobs did M$ destroy with it's predatory behavior and how much has this stifled innovation?
Looks like guilt to me. Whatever the motive, I think he is doing good.
How things are accomplished may be more important than what is accomplished. If I give the worlds smartest man a heart transplant and it saves his life, that would be great. Now what if I had to murder someone to get the heart? Would it still be so great? |
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tshirt
Premium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
·Comcast
| said by Lazlow :How things are accomplished may be more important than what is accomplished. If I give the worlds smartest man a heart transplant and it saves his life, that would be great. Now what if I had to murder someone to get the heart? Would it still be so great? I don't think Bill, or anyone at MS killed anyone in order to improve sales.
Yes, they play hardball pushing every limit, and some ideas have been quashed/absorbed/ignored in the process, it happens everyday in every business, it just was more noticeable with MS because they are such a dominate company in the fastest growing industry ever.
jerry Yang has the same obligation at Yahoo as Gates had at MS to grow the value of the company. If (due to his own personal dislike with gates/MS) chooses to take the poison pill rather than sell to the highest bidder, he is violating his legally binding fiduciary responsibility to his/ Yahoo's shareholders. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to Lazlow
said by Lazlow :If there is a monster in a cage and you unlock the door to the cage, you are responsible for what the monster does. I'd agree but there are no monsters here.
Yahoo is a dead company. If they went out of business tomorrow, no one would care. Microsoft was doing them a favor by offering to buy them out.
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to tshirt
said by tshirt :I don't think Bill, or anyone at MS killed anyone in order to improve sales. Funny you mention killing.
Didn't Yahoo rat out a blogger in China to the Chinese government?
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This isn't fair! I was only supposed to hate just ONE presidential candidate! |
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Lazlow
join:2006-08-07
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to tshirt
"to grow the value of the company."
The above line is key. Today value has become equivalent to money, but in truth value is far more than just money.
Yes, M$ is pointed to as an example of when things have gone too far and I am sure that there are many other companies one could point to. Because M$ has gone to the very edge (and over) so many times is exactly why everyone points to them as an example. They have made huge amounts of money and they did "standardize" an industry. But, somewhere along the line they forgot to stop. Sugar tastes really good but if you try to live on just sugar, you are going to get sick. I think that M$ passed the stage where it helps and has been a harm for a number of years.
If M$ is doing them a favor why are they turning them down? M$'s favors have always been to M$ advantage. |
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tshirt
Premium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
·Comcast
| reply to pnh102
At least one that we know of
When this end of deal story broke here in Seattle, I read it as Steve Ballmer getting smarter, breaking away from his role as chief salesman (in this case buyer) and becoming a better CEO.
When a seller (yes Yahoo wants/needs to sell or partner with somebody quickly) is too demanding in their terms, a smart buyer will politely decline and walk away, even if it's something they really, really want.
Yahoo might have some value.
But imagine what MS could do with a $50b invstment in that market.......Would Yahoo (particularly a gutted Yahoo really add more than that? Probably not ,a full buy out would deny other players those assets and get MS rolling imediately (provided the culture clash was not too great)
people forget how big a monster Google has become and how quickly they are leveraging into other related and unrelated businesses. |
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itnetpro
join:2001-10-28
Downingtown, PA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Lazlow
Wait a minute here??? Yahoo has Morals? From my perspective it was Yahoo who was shaking Microsoft down because they figured that Microsoft had such deep pockets it would over pay for Yahoo. Don't think for one minute that Yahoo would not have sold out everything if Microsoft increased their bid. I am also amazed when I see a statement accusing Bill Gates of guilt for giving away billions of dollars of his own money. I seriously doubt that he harbors any personal feelings of guilt over anything Microsoft has done and for that matter any other American company would have also done in Microsoft’s shoes to prosper. It's called Capitalism. As for Yahoo's future, I feel it was foolish not to take Microsoft's offer. Even with MSN and Yahoo merging, Microsoft still would have taken a distant 2nd place to Google. Just like Zune vs IPod, 360 vs PS3 vs Wii in the end Microsoft will not dominate this industry just like they don't any other then PC operating systems.
By the way, did you know that Bill Gates gave so much money away he is no longer the richest man in the world? That title is now owned by a Mexican Telco mogal. Kind of strange that the richest man in the world comes from such a dirt poor country like Mexico. Oh but wait! Bill Gates is the most Evil man in the world!!! I am no big Microsoft OS fan but I get tired day in and out how people go around spewing garbage about Evil Bill gates. I personaly think Microsoft is a great American company... |
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vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD
1 edit | reply to tshirt
said by tshirt :said by Lazlow :I would just say that they(yahoo) had morals........... So, At $44B it's moral to hold out, but if you can hold out for $50B it's moral to sell out? sounds totally profit driven, without thought to the employees future said by Lazlow : For at least the last ten years (not always) M$ has proven itself to be harmful and amoral. ........... Seems to be a popular spin, but some of us see it as working hard to drive an industry, make money for investors, provide 77,000 employees (and hundreds of thousands of other people) good paying jobs. said by Lazlow :It would appear that even Gates has seen this with his attempt at making amends(his foundation). Bill Gates in no way feels guilty about his success, he work hard to get there and now chooses to spend his fortune trying to make the world a better place. said by Lazlow :I am all for companies making a profit, but there has to be "some" limits on how far one can go. So no limits on those are unable to master their market, but cap those who have continuously made and sold what the vast majority of people will buy? Dude, isnt it sad? So Bill Gates makes to much money, but anyone on this forum would trade places with him in a nano second. Hate the 500 pound gorilla is the recurring theme here, and it is pointless.
The CEO subscribes to this thought process, and as a result he will suffer the wrath of his own shareholders. Yahoo is a dead company, some say MSFT was the sucker here, how many people pay 70% premium for worthless goods? Sounds like an ebay auction with a sniper, except Yahoo isnt even worth the transaction fees  .
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I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!! |
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C DM
join:2002-12-31 | reply to pnh102
Without Yahoo! and other .coms where would companies like Google be? It took those other companies to come up with tons of services that are used by most people online so that other companies can come in later an improve on them. |
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