All Things Digital

BoomTown is at the lovely Santa Clara Marriott in Silicon Valley at the 2009 Yahoo annual meeting, liveblogging the event, which should be spectacularly dull.

Here is a rundown of what went on.

10:05 am: The meeting kicks off with a little video presentation with various and sundry television talking heads saying “Yahoo” in quick succession.

Actually, this was the year during which all of those hype-magnets repeated “Twitter” so many times that it has began to make my ears bleed.

But I like the spirit of trying to make Yahoo seem relevant and innovative again.

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Let’s be honest–even with the sassy stylings of CEO Carol Bartz, who will be appearing at her first Yahoo annual meeting this morning–there are few of these affairs that are even remotely exciting.

Last year’s Yahoo meeting did have a frisson of possibility, since billionaire investor Carl Icahn and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer were fixing to put the double squeeze on the board and, especially, its then-CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang. Also, major Yahoo shareholders threatened a revolt.

But, none of that panned out. Thus, this year is likely to be a snoozer in comparison.

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In exactly one week at 10 am PDT, Yahoo will hold its annual meeting in Silicon Valley, the first time when new CEO Carol Bartz will greet its shareholders in person.

She should prep carefully, as the event has been quite a drama over the last two years.

Here’s a rundown of what is likely to be on the minds of investors, including the status of the isn’t-it-rich-aren’t-they-a-pair relationship between Yahoo and Microsoft.

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Microsoft and Yahoo have been busily ferreting away on talks about search and advertising partnership possibilities in what one person close to the situation described as “hot and heavy.”

Exactly how hot and how heavy depends on which side you are talking to, with Yahoo seeking to play it a bit cooler and Microsoft, according to many sources, aggressively interested in striking a deal.

Nonetheless, sources within Yahoo said that the company is also eager to make what could be a lucrative arrangement with Microsoft, which could come sooner than some expect.

In fact, execs from both companies have been meeting in Silicon Valley recently again.

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Following on BoomTown’s report earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal has also named former Autodesk top exec Carol Bartz as a contender for Yahoo CEO in a report today.

Since my post on Wednesday, I have been getting a lot of intense reaction from inside and outside of Yahoo to the idea of an old-line tech CEO–such as Bartz–with little Internet or online advertising experience, taking on the difficult role at Yahoo.

What’s most interesting about the reaction to Bartz is that the kudos and the knocks track very closely.

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BoomTown had no idea how much yammering took place between Yahoo Tech Ticker’s Sarah Lacy and me last week when we did an interview. But here is (hopefully) the final chapter of three videos about the tech scene, looking back at 2008 and forward to 2009.

This one is about the most underrated and overrated in tech–and somehow I manage to call Facebook both. I also note that while Steve Jobs is not overrated, by any means–so back off, you Mac fanatics–the other key execs at Apple are underrated.

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There it was again–like the gnarly ghost of Christmas past–in the Los Angeles Times this week. But this time Lloyd Braun wasn’t going to take it anymore. The object of his ire was dropped right in the middle of a blog post about how Yahoo was “reversing its Hollywoodification” at its Santa Monica media unit offices. The piece also included old allegations from a devastating story in November of 2005 about Braun, which made him look like a digital version of Ari Gold from “Entourage.” Unfortunately, as BoomTown has found out, the bulk of those juicy anecdotes about him don’t actually check out. And therein lies a complex tale that still reverberates at Yahoo today.

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BoomTown is handing over the stage today to hyperactive entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who just weighed in on what Yahoo should do. Literally, his post yesterday on his Blog Maverick site is titled “What Yahoo Should Do,” and he lays waste to a lot of the conventional wisdom about the Internet portal’s fate. Cuban and Yahoo have a rocky history and, let’s just say, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is not a fan. Ironically, in the piece, Cuban seems to be a big fan of Yahoo, or–more precisely–of its potential.

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BoomTown really does hope that in some secret airport hangar right now Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang are meeting, in order to hammer out a fair search deal that will benefit them both. I’d even insist that Yahoo’s noisiest board member, activist shareholder Carl Icahn, be there too, to make sure all sides were copacetic and there would be no last-minute switcheroos and backstabbings. Because, long ago in galaxy far, far away, what is now going on between Microsoft and Yahoo would have seemed inane.

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Former Yahoo tech star Qi Lu is poised to take on the big job of being Microsoft’s top digital executive, according to several sources inside and outside the company.

The appointment could be announced as early as next Monday.

A variety of details is still being ironed out, including whether the well-regarded techie Lu will be “paired” with another executive at Microsoft with more general business experience.

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Now let’s return from the land of fatuous deal schemes and half-baked plots to buy Yahoo and get to the most critical issue facing its board right now: Finding a new CEO to replace outgoing leader Jerry Yang.

Sources tell BoomTown that board Chairman Roy Bostock has been asserting a new CEO will be named by the new year.

Only 28 more shopping days until management clarity!

Well, maybe not so much, given there is no formal search committee. But there is a list and a pending AOL deal, so let’s hope for a miracle on 701 First Avenue in Sunnyvale!

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The stock seesaw for Yahoo–fueled this time by a story in The Wall Street Journal that claimed that former AOL CEO Jon Miller was buttonholing private equity firms for money to buy the Internet giant–continues.

Yahoo shares rose seven percent due to the report, to $11.50, up 76 cents.

Unfortunately for everyone but stock manipulators, the Journal story had a lot of problems, including the highly pertinent fact that Miller has not been actively working on such a deal with any more effort that he had been over the last six months.

“Nothing is different now than it was last week, or even months ago,” said one person close to the situation.

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Let me be crystal clear: Yahoo and Microsoft are not currently secretly at work on a pricey new search partnership and a piece this weekend in the Times of London that said they were is inaccurate.

It’s natural for the idea to be brought up, since they have talked about such a deal many months ago and have indicated publicly and recently that they should again in the future, so smart betting is correct in guessing that they probably will do some sort of search deal in the months ahead.

Still, various rumors pop up weekly about deals between the pair, which are about as convoluted as a mash-up of “Richard III” and “Macbeth,” with some “Three’s Company” thrown in for comic relief.

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A report in the Times of London in which Microsoft would buy Yahoo’s search business in a convoluted $20 billion deal that would include well-known Internet execs Jon Miller and Ross Levinsohn, is–in the words of one key player–”total fiction.”

Actually, that’s Levinsohn speaking, on the record. But that’s also the essential word from all key players regarding the Times’s report.

While Microsoft has long been interested in doing a search deal with Yahoo, BoomTown has spoken to top sources at Yahoo and Microsoft too and all scoff at such a deal taking place right now or that either side has been in any such discussions of late.

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When everyone else has been selling, it seems Carl Icahn has decided to throw good money after bad–as in nearly $1 billion bad–by buying almost seven million more Yahoo shares, according to a regulatory filing.

Why is he doing it? BoomTown is guessing that the billionaire investor thinks he can recoup some of his massive losses in Yahoo, as Jerry Yang prepares to step down and the board, on which Icahn sits, names a new leader.

That’s why my guess is that the choice of a new CEO is likely to be sooner than later, much more Icahn-friendly and strong on operational skills.

BoomTown’s new guesses: Yahoo board member John Chapple or perhaps an ops star like HP’s Todd Bradley.

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