Icahn Haz Yahoo! Board
Thursday, May 15th, 2008;
-- Sean Maguire |
By Sean Maguire
Standing strong at number 24 on Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans, with a cool $8.7 Billion to his name, Carl Icahn can haz lots of cheezburgerz! Guess what? He wants more.
Oh, the intrigue; the recent breathtaking game of “Deal or No Deal” between Microsoft and Yahoo. Unless you’ve been rafting down the Bolivian mountains’ Tuichi River for the last three months, you’re well aware of Jerry Yang and Co’s, repeated rejections of Microsoft’s increasingly generous overtures. The last one being a lofty (cough cough) - $33.00/share or $47.5 Billion dollars! This represented a full 70% premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on January 31. With Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer playing the role of Howie Mandel, Yang sent two of his yings to politely tell him “No Deal Stevie…No Deal”!
On May 3rd, Ballmer finally had enough and sent a little love letter (or nastygram), depending on how well you read between the lines, to Jerry Yang, thanking him and telling him how disappointed he was that they couldn’t get a deal done. Marketing translation - “Jerry – you really screwed your investors on this one. Oh, and thanks for wasting my time.”
Nevertheless, Yang must have been thinking he had successfully fended off his unwelcome rival. There was one problem. The banker in the booth was seething. His name? Carl Icahn. One of the shrewdest investors in America, Mr. Icahn is not someone to be taken lightly. In fact, as of this writing, Reuters is reporting that Icahn is filing a full board slate for Yahoo, readying himself to take the big stick to Mr. Yang and Co.
Looks to me like Messrs. Brin, Page and Schmidt may be having that 30 minute strategy meeting afterall, since it won’t be long before Jerry Yang gets back on the phone to his buddy in Redmond to deliver a one word message: “Deal.”
My prediction? Carl Icahn will get his cheeseburgers and ultimately drive the sale to Microsoft. My sweepstakes number is $34.00 a share. Give us your opinion and price here at the Pilgrim and let’s see who the sharpest trader is.
About Sean Maguire.
Sean Maguire is the Founder and Managing Partner for 360SELL, Inc., an Austin, TX based internet sales and marketing consulting firm. Sean has over 20 years experience working with venture funded startups through Fortune 500 industry leaders.
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May 15th, 2008 at 9:02 am
[...] Is a Microsoft Yahoo merger good, depends on the view point. That is the great part about all this, Yahoo really isn’t that wounded, but as pressure mounts to get rid of the Yahoo board that “killed the deal with Microsoft” stockholders, analysts, and others can pretty much so figure out that this is not going to be another Apple resurrection story, this time it will be all the folks who are involved directly and indirectly putting pressure on the board. … Source: Sean Maguire [...]
May 15th, 2008 at 9:03 am
If he’s driven to Microsoft’s deal Ballmer could be in a position to lower the offer… I think he might stick to the $33 however.
John’s last blog post..Gordon Brown To Have His Own ‘Apprentice’ Show?
May 15th, 2008 at 10:29 am
@John - You could very well be right there.
I’m thinking that Microsoft really wants this deal and is pleased to see Icahn jump into the fray. I’m figure Carl may even be able to persuade them to ante’ up another buck or so for his troubles. We’ll see.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
“I can haz cheezeburgurz!?!” was gonna be my joke on WebmasterRadio today. And I thought I was being so clever too. dang time-zones.
jim (on pacific coast)
May 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Andy! Andy! Andy! You were SOOOOO close to a fantastic title to this blog post! Soooo damn close.
Should’ve been: “Icahn Haz Yahoo! Board”
The Hiz was unecessary and just took you a little too far away from Icanhazcheezeburger.
Aaargh!
May 15th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
@Thomas - not my title, but I thought it was pretty cool. The image cracked me up.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
@Thomas. I have to agree with you, and wouldn’t mind a bit if Andy changed the headline. Thanks for the note.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
LOL - changed!
May 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
@Thomas - See that? Ask and you shall receive.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Sean, this is a great post even if the wrong titlez!!
Jim Gharib’s last blog post..Where does Google go next?
May 28th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I’ll take $35 in the sweepstake. If they get it, I don’t think the price is done going up…
Nice post, btw.
Oh, and I’m reposting this comment ‘cos apparently I got the spam protection sum wrong! Maths degree? What maths degree?
Will Critchlow’s last blog post..Distilled + SEOmoz = AWESOME
June 4th, 2008 at 12:39 am
@ Jim - Thanks!
@ Will - Hey buddy. Thanks for stopping by. PS - For future reference, 3 + 4 = 7!