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Despite the presence of some major players, nothing of consequence has emerged on the Yahoo-Microsoft front at the high-powered Allen & Co. conference this week in Sun Valley, Idaho. At least not that we know about. But that hasn't kept all the reporters and other executives there from watching and guessing about the interactions.
The Associated Press reports that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said he didn't plan to meet with Bill Gates or Microsoft executive Henry Vigil. Yang did, however, talk with Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page for more than a half-hour at a table next to a duck pond.
They were "just catching up," Brin told the AP, describing Yang as "very calm" in the face of "some stressful situations."
The New York Times has details of an interesting group at a table Wednesday night in the corner of the bar: Google's Page; Yahoo President Sue Decker; Terry Semel, the former Yahoo chairman; and Bill Miller of Legg Mason, one of Yahoo's largest shareholders. Reports the Times:
From the best guess of the mogul lip readers in the bar, Mr. Page and Mr. Miller were dominating most of the conversation and Ms. Decker and Mr. Semel seemed to chime in only from time to time. In such a public setting, it is unclear whether the group would talk business at all. ... But it's hard to imagine Mr. Miller, who has said he would sell Yahoo for $33 a share to Microsoft, wouldn't use the audience to espouse his view and glean a bit of "color."
Meanwhile, all the attention may have caught Vigil by surprise. The AP notes that Microsoft's strategy and partnership executive "looked overwhelmed as photographers circled him when he arrived Tuesday."
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Posted by unregistered user at 7/11/08 9:05 a.m.
I really don't see how Microsoft could still do the deal. They have lost almost $70 billion of market cap since the offer was made (another new low today). The economy, their business (likely), Yahoo's (for sure), and the market, have all deteriorated. And the bad blood between the two companies, which started out high, seems to have only increased. This was an extremely risky deal with very suspect return to begin with. Now it's just suicidal, even at 80-90% of the original offer. If Ballmer pursues it anyway, the stock will break the decade low and he may be facing his own ouster.