American International Group CEO Martin Sullivan – described by Cramer as a “serial destroyer of value” – finally stepped down over this past weekend.
That leaves an open slot in the Mad Money Hall of Shame. So who gets it?
Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang.
New York Times business columnist Joseph Nocera – who recently wrote about Yang – stopped by the show to explain why.
“Their company has not done a thing – in what? – five, six, seven years?” Nocera said. “And they’re getting their lunch eaten by Google. And they don’t have a plan for the future.”
But still Yang turned down Microsoft’s buyout offer, which was a 62% premium to the stock’s trading price, just to spite the Evil Empire.
“OK, you hate Microsoft. We get it,” Nocera said. “Everyone in Silicon Valley hates Microsoft.”
Apparently, Yang never once thought about Yahoo!’s shareholders.
“If you go public, and you’re the CEO, and you’re on the board, there’s this thing called fiduciary responsibility” to the stockowners, Nocera said.
Now it’s up to Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor leaning on Yahoo!’s board of directors, hoping to unlock some of the company’s value.
“If Carl were to walk away at this point,” Nocera said, “this stock would collapse.”
While the Yahoo! saga may not be finished, Nocera admitted, Yahoo! the company is.
“There are very few things that seem more clear,” he said, “than the fact that Yahoo!’s days are numbered.”
Most likely then, so are Yang’s.
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