He is thinking of more than just money, and in his argument, that's exactly why Yahoo should sell. Then they could focus on building great products rather than bending to the will of Wall Street.
Because their options vest and they can leave with a bunch of cash to do startups with, if the deal happens? "Microsoft" is not a brand I associate with "focus on building great products". I guess that's a bit of a cheap shot, and at one point in time, they certainly outcompeted everyone else to win what would go on to become their monopoly, but still, I just don't see anyone focusing much on anything with two big icebergs crashing into one another, let alone 'great products' free from political interference.
If they're so into long term, how come they're so late to the game in terms of internet stuff? There's a difference between "don't have as many people breathing down their necks as everyone else does", and the actual corporate culture at Microsoft. The first thing could be a very positive thing, the second is not a point in their favor from everything I see.
I think the vision of Microsoft as this white knight that will come along and gently put some breath into Yahoo's sails is to ignore the nuts and bolts reality of how Microsoft has approached this sort of thing in the past. I could always be wrong, and they've learned their lessons, but only time will tell, and I wouldn't bet on it.
They're certainly not agile, nor are they perfect. No question about that. But they do have a long history of ignoring Wall Street while working on building long term profitability. The Xbox360 and the Zune are good recent examples. Though the Zune has yet to materialize as a major profit source, and honestly may never, they're definitely going against the wishes of investors to try to become more of a player in the consumer space.
My personal feelings aside as to whether or not MS/Yahoo is a good idea, Cuban is right in that it will allow Yahoo to focus on the long term in a way that remaining independent (if that's even an option, which it probably isn't) will not.
There's definitely some logic in that, but my gut feeling is that all the 'hullabaloo' surrounding the merger would supersede that effect. Hirings, firings, integrations, strategies, turf wars, technology conflicts, etc... will not be an easy thing to keep under control and out of everyone's way in order to let them concentrate clearly on the future. If they manage to, then what you're saying will come into effect.
