Jerry Yang wanted nothing more than for Microsoft to leave him and Yahoo alone. Now that Yahoo’s CEO has his wish, he may be suffering a case of non-seller’s remorse.
For one thing, there’s the lawsuits. Yahoo’s value dropped 14 percent over the weekend, when Microsoft released a letter from CEO Steve Ballmer to Yang. Shareholders are now suing Yang and the Yahoo board, accusing them of neglecting their duties to shareholders.
“Right now, the way we see it, the board’s failure to control Jerry Yang has cost shareholders billions of dollars in value,” said Mark Lebovich, lead partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, which is amending an existing class action against the board. “If there’s some master plan that’s going to create greater shareholder value than Microsoft may have offered, the market hasn’t seen it. And we’d like to see it.”
Meanwhile Yang told Reuters that he was open to continuing discussions with Microsoft. “We were negotiating a way to find common ground, and then on Saturday they chose to walk away,” he said. “They started it and they walked away.” Yang was due to meet with employees Tuesday.
“They chose to walk away after we put a price on the table, and they didn’t want to negotiate,” Yang told The New York Times. “From my perspective, we were open all along to selling to Microsoft. We just feel Yahoo, either stand-alone or with Microsoft, is worth more than what they put on the table.”
Last week, Microsoft’s board approved raising the company’s offer to $33 a share, up from an initial bid of $31. It was reported that Yang was holding out for $37, prompting Ballmer to call a halt to the negotiations.
The failed talks angered large, powerful shareholders and could endanger the reelection of some…