More Videos
- Social Networking's 'Naked' Truth
- Microsoft Plays a Game of Bing Pong
- Klutzy Woz Becomes Auto Body Pitchman
- Google Goes After Microsoft, Kind Of
- Flip Backfires on Cisco's John Chambers
- TeleMedicine Gets An Apple App Store Facelift
- iPhone Gets Big Stamp of Approval
- Jobs Returns, But Who's Running the Show?
- Jackson Juices Yahoo's Traffic
- Jackson, Inc. Becoming An Online Boom
|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- Unemployed? Bored? Make Money Playing Beer Pong
- WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell on the Ad Recession
- Social Networking's 'Naked' Truth
- Merrill's McCann Seen as UBS Wealth Frontrunner
- The View From Newark
- Warren Buffett's Top Three Investment Rules for the Average American
- Fast Funds: Hot Ways To Play China
- Why You Should Watch Fund Flows
- Eric Schmidt on Government Scrutiny and Economic Recovery
- Earnings 101: Beyond The Big Names
- Eric Schmidt on Government Scrutiny and Economic Recovery
- Market 360: The Week's Best & Worst
- Geek Squad V. Gizmodo
- Brandt: Google Chrome OS in the Post-PC Age
- Other People Are Weirder Than We Are
- Bank Failures: Is The Nightmare Over? (Video)
- California Here I Go? No.
- Roginsky: No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Commercial Conundrum
- Government Selling Bank Stakes for Too Cheap: Panel
- Buffett's Top 3 Investment Rules for Average Americans
- Market Insider: Earnings Loom in the Week Ahead
- Bulls Get Summertime Blues, But It's Hot Fun for Bears
- As Banks Fail, Strong Institutions Become More Visible
- GM IPO in Second Quarter 2010 at the Earliest: CFO
- Merrill's McCann Seen as UBS Wealth Frontrunner
- It's Not the Wealthy Who Are Leaving California: Study
- Atlantic City Takes Hit as Pennsylvania Casino Opens
RSS FEED
Text Size 
 |
Paul Sakuma / AP Yahoo!'s headquarters in California. |
However, my sources close to Microsoft [MSFT
Loading...
()
] tell me the odds are "significantly against" such a move, with a possibility of a pre-market announcement coming Friday morning.
That would stand to reason since last week, Microsoft said it would talk about its next steps at some point this week, and "this week" is over tomorrow. But now I'm hearing that Monday would be a preferred day to launch a hostile bid and even go so far as to name a slate of directors to replace those sitting in those Yahoo chairs today.
Why Monday? Because it won't give Yahoo [YHOO
Loading...
()
] a chance to breathe with the onslaught of headlines and media frenzy news like that could generate. Make the news today, or even tomorrow, and it gives Yahoo a chance to spend a couple of days digesting, ruminating, plotting and planning its next move.
Make the move on Monday, and the company will be faced with endless phone ringing from reporters--and endless hand-wringing by investors--wondering what the company will do next. Monday news would put the screws into Yahoo and give the company a harsher taste of the kind of pressure Microsoft is willing to enlist to move this deal forward.
Which is precisely what I'm hearing from a number of Yahoo employees who have a surprising twist in all this--even as some Microsoft workers have publicly expressed disdain for the deal. These employees have told me that they're actually in favor of a deal. Not thrilled with Microsoft, but looking forward to any partnership that could help unseat Google [GOOG
Loading...
()
] as the industry leader. Interesting. The classic "my enemy's enemy is my friend?" Sure sounds that way.
Meantime, anything can happen. Steve Ballmer could make a few phone calls and get this news out today. Right now. Or tonight. Or Saturday afternoon around 2 pm. The fact is, his is the only time-table that matters. We in the media may be clamoring for a deal. Investors may be clamoring for a deal.
But there's no pressure. Yahoo has to hold a shareholder's meeting by July 12, per the incorporation articles in Delaware where the company is incorporated. So conceivably, Microsoft could wait all the way 'til then, nominate its own slate, and take control. This could easily stretch until mid-summer. Hope it doesn't, but it could.
We can all prognosticate, predict, wonder and complain about when the news may or may not happen. And lots of people "close to the situation" claim to have the details and can't wait to share them with those in the media.
So I'll throw my hat into the ring with sources of my own, "close to the situation," who tell me not to expect the news today. And because Friday makes little sense, not to expect anything tomorrow either. The bet's on Monday. Or not. Or maybe. I guess we'll see.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes