MicroHoo: Slim Pickens
by Kara Swisher
Posted on May 21, 2008 at 5:10 AM PT
Is it just me or did anyone else find the T. Boone Pickens (pictured here) quote about why he bought 10 million shares in Yahoo a little scary and a lot appalling?
“The only thing I know about Yahoo is what [CNBC Host] David [Faber] just told me, and that Carl Icahn is a big shareholder,” said the folksy chairman of BP Capital yesterday.
Yes, Icahn, the well-known Internet expert!
Actually, all the Luddite-leaning Icahn knows is how to squeeze money out of desperate and troubled companies (most of whom, to be fair, deserve the squeeze).
Which is why the entry into the game of all the corporate raider’s vulture-ish pals should be very, very disturbing to Yahoo CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang.
Because, whether or not Yahoo (YHOO) liked the unsolicited takeover incursion of Microsoft (MSFT), at least it is a technology company that valued and appreciated and understood the intricacies of Yahoo’s business.
Icahn, with all the delicacy of a meat grinder, would just as soon dismember Yahoo, if he got control and could not easily turn around and sell it off to Microsoft.
And, although there are a lot of lousy ways this situation could eventually turn out, that is perhaps the lousiest.
Comments
Jerry thought he dictated the agenda by turning down Balmer. He won the battle but lost the war. And the carcass will be picked apart but all the vultures. His troops can thank Jerry for that. Congratulations!
Posted by Roger Yip at May 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am