The Smartest Thing Yang Has Done So Far

As excited as I was about the potential buyout of Yahoo! by someone, even I became a little bored of all the back and forth between Yahoo! and Microsoft. In injection of Google into the mix certainly added some spice to the story, but I honestly thought that Carl Icahn's battle to replace the board at Yahoo! would be the critical next milestone to move the story forward. With Steve Ballmer's outright statement that he would speak with Yahoo!, but only after a new board was installed, that seemed to be the obvious conclusions. Today's announcement, however, that Carl Icahn, himself, will join Jerry Yang on the existing board leaves me scratching my head again.

I'm not along in my head-scratching, of course. In the morning batter on CNBC, everyone seems to be wondering how this ultimately works to the advantage of Yahoo! All can agree, however, that this is the smartest thing that Yang has done thus far and I would have to concur. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em ...or in this case, invite them to join you.

Over the weekend I spotted an article that announced that Legg Mason, a major shareholder in Yahoo!, would support the existing board along with Jerry Yang. There were previous reports that there were meetings between Yahoo and Legg Mason at the Sun Valley lodge and that's likely where the seeds were planted for the announcements made over the past few days. While I'm certainly a little more confident it Jerry Yang's ability to strategize, I'm still wondering where this leaves Yahoo!'s independence or lack thereof.

Does Anyone Understand The MS-Y! Saga Anymore?

I've been following this continuing saga since it began in February, but even I'm a little confused as to where this will ultimately go. In today's news it appears that Microsoft is, once again, expressing an interest in acquiring Yahoo!'s search business. It's no longer interested in bidding for the whole company and is in talks with others about acquiring the non-search parts of their business. Personally, this just comes across as indecisiveness on the part of Steve Ballmer and Microsoft, doesn't it?

When Microsoft walked away from the table last month, it seemed as though it was a classic M&A move - letting Yahoo! swing in the wind. It worked too, with Carl Icahn and other shareholders storming the doors at Yahoo! and challenging Yang and the rest of the Board on their decision not to sell. As you know, Yahoo! has been back-peddling ever since to appease those same shareholders, but Microsoft seemed adamant that it was no longer interested in an outright acquisition, but may be interested in a cooperative search-based relationship.

The next chapter, of course, brought Google into the story-line with Yahoo! announcing that they would work with Google on Search. That, honestly, seemed to be the final nail in the proverbial coffin since the deal with Google involved substantial penalties should Yahoo! walk away from the deal thereafter. Today's talk of Microsoft's renewed interest is just weird; what is it that they want? They have the cash to buy them; if they want them, why not just buy them?

Pickens follows Icahn into Yahoo!; What does it mean?

I happened to be watching CNBC when it happened: Boone Pickens, the many best known for his winning bets in oil and gas (and more recently wind power) has follows Mr. Carl Icahn into Yahoo! with a similarly 10 million-share bet (about $275 million). Of course, with investors on the sidelines waiting to see what happens next, many have read into Mr. Pickens purchase in the hopes of gaining an insight into what insiders might know.

When asked, during his interview, how he felt about the Microsoft-Yahoo! saga, unfortunately, Mr. Pickens revealed that his only reason for investing was Mr. Icahn's interest in it and "that's enough" for him. So, should that be enough for the rest of us as well?

Carl Icahn does have approximately 50 million options on Yahoo! in addition to his shares so there's no question about his commitment to this deal and his expectations of how it will ultimately conclude. Are we indecisive investors waiting for some additional confirmation going to regret not following Mr. Pickens' trust in Mr. Icahn's ability to get the deal done?