One of the biggest investors of our time bought a little share of Yahoo. Well little in this case literally means 3.5% which is currently about 1.3 billion US$. As we know very well from the past most of the companies (like Motorolla) in which he invested become split into smaller divisions.
And yes you already guessed right: Carl Icahn has arrived. You could ask if he is the Steve Ballmer’s joker in that game. Somebody may hope so, because people don’t like to read any more news about Yahoo acting touchy like before. Yahoo’s only future is a future together with Microsoft. And Ballmer is not interested in Yahoo. Yahoo is only a minor step here. Ballmer wants to compete with Google (see video here…).
The next months are getting very thrilling. We expect this merger to come. However we don’t expect Microsoft to buy the whole Yahoo divisions. That kinda offer has passed and Yahoo didn’t take it. Now with Icahn in the boat, Yahoo should realize that negotiations are almost over.
Icahn will replace Yahoo’s board of management and then the best offer will be accepted. First consequence is that Yahoo delays its General Annual Meeting from the beginning of july to the end. Icahn simply got too much paperwork in the process of replacing Yahoo’s board. We expect that the best offer at that point won’t include all of Yahoo’s divisions anymore. Microsoft simply don’t need all of Yahoo.
Let’s see what happens. One thing is for sure: Carl Icahn is the joker in that game. Nobody (besides Steve Ballmer probably) would have expected him to join that game…
