A scathing analysis of all the anti-shareholder actions Jerry Yang has taken in the last few months. I think Joe Nocera is right on here - when your company goes public, you can no longer treat it as your private plaything. Neither can it be run for the benefit of the employees....it's the owners of the company, the shareholders, who's interests must be paramount.

Arrogantly, Mr. Yang appears to ignore this fact, and is now being sued by large shareholders, pension funds, and Carl Icahn.

How can he NOT be forced to step down (much less cost Yahoo many tens of millions in defending against these suits)?

Quoted: Since Yahoo went public in 1996, the company has had new owners — its shareholders — but it is unclear whether Jerry Yang, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, knows this.

Jerry Yang is trying to pump YHOO stock price by insinuating that a Microsoft deal is still possible. This seems highly unscrupulous to me. The deal is over - and any indication otherwise seems to me to be blatant stock manipulation.

YHOO shareholders should get rid of Yang and the board for blowing a lucrative deal with MS.

Quoted: (Adds investor comment, Google details) By Michele Gershberg NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc chief Jerry Yang signaled a more open stance towards Microsoft Corp on Monday, saying he had been

Another social ranking tool from Yahoo - they have a "Buzz Up" button you can add to any story or post. The most popular ones can appear on Yahoo home page (which would be a big boon to any web site).

Notice the complex cross-division responsibilities behind even the new MS online organizational structure. The only one that looks "clean" from this description is aQuantive. It look like they are letting Brian McAndrews continue to run a silo-ed business (which means the team will probably remain happy and productive).

I don't envy the Search, MSN Portal, and Live teams.

Quoted: Bits is a blog about technology, innovation and society from The New York Times.

Something I don't get - why does Microsoft place it's ONLINE services underneath the WINDOWS division? Does this make sense to anyone else?

One of the reasons I left MS was stuff like this - if you're not running Windows or Office, you get very little control over your own destiny; everything has to march to the drum-beat of Windows or Office market needs.

This stifles innovation and does not provide the incentives you need to get people excited about their own influence on products.

This announcement looks like further consolidation of online properties over to windows. These things used to be in a separate MSN organization - which is content/advertising focused. They were also not held accountable enough for building a successful business (leading to MS needed to acquire a successful online business).

Quoted: The company placed new executives in charge of operations facing fierce new competition from Google, Apple and cellphone makers.

Will Yahoo stockholders give up a 60% premium in stock price TODAY on the hope that Yahoo can run it's business better than Google and Microsoft?

Jerry Yang does not explain why the stumbles of the past will not be repeated in the future.

Quoted: Yahoo has just released the following letter to shareholders outlining its reasoning for rejecting Microsoft's offer to buy the company. In it, CEO ...

Microsoft will now move on to the proxy fight!

Quoted: The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and
financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft
reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s
shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value
inherent in our proposal.

Arrington things the deal is "done" unless the board decides to do something crazy like invite a shareholder law suit.

Quoted: willing to put their personal fortunes on the line and give a collective middle finger to Microsoft (because, yep, they’re going to be sued, and fast, by their stockholders if this deal dies - and the board’s indemnity agreements won’t provide full protection

Excellent analysis of the negotiation and valuation of the Yahoo acquisition.