The most relevant portion is buried at the very end:
> While some are scared by the numbers, everyone I spoke to plans to make a bid of some sort, largely because even as financially precarious as it has become, Yahoo remains one of the biggest properties on the Web and it is hard to be able to buy that kind scale easily.
> “It’s like a dilapidated house in Silicon Valley — you walk in and are overwhelmed by the work that needs to be done and how bad it has gotten,” said one potential buyer. “But then it’s in a good neighborhood, the market is nuts and there’s not many like it anymore, so you have to hope you can fix it.”
the most likely explanation is that Yahoo is being mismanaged to drive price down.
Based on your second sentence, I don't think you mean the word 'mismanaged' here. That would imply those inside the company are intentionally trying to lower its value.
I think what you mean is, potential buyers are bad-mouthing the company, or deliberately talking down it's value in public to try to get a better deal.
Edit: It occurred to me, this could have been a substitution error of 'mismanaged,' for 'misrepresented.'
Indeed. At troubled companies, executive compensation (via severance package) is often tied to a successful sale of the firm, and this is the case with YHOO:
If getting the deal done is the only objective, exaggerating the direness of the situation might help shareholders get on board for a deal, perhaps out of fear. It also makes a lower price more palatable.
Of course, I have no details of what is actually going on, so what I've written could just be rampant speculation.
are we so politically correct we have to claim its being mismanaged to bring the price down instead of stating that the price is down because of clear mismanagement? Some might say both statements mean the same but they don't.
The real issue is when a star is put in charge who cannot fail yet does and no one is willing to call them out on it till its too late.
>are we so politically correct we have to claim its being mismanaged to bring the price down instead of stating that the price is down because of clear mismanagement?
Yes. This site is one of the worst I encounter when it comes to ensuring the PC path is taken regarding sexism. It's odd that a group of, predominantly, males feels the need to make so much effort to say, "I'm not sexist!" or "You're a sexist!"
Go back and read any of the old threads regarding Mrs. Mayer's hiring. They're a hoot.
I think it was more Ballmer not having a clue about mobile. When I first saw his idiotic response to the initial iPhone I knew he would fail hard in the mobile space. Even today I think his idea of a smart phone is a Windows Mobile 6 device.
>is that Yahoo is being mismanaged to drive price down.
Remember when Mrs. Meyer was named CEO and HN vehemently argued that she was going to turn the place around? And anyone who said otherwise was accused of being sexist?
Here's a doozy from back then:
"every once in a while I wonder whether she's so much smarter than me that I just can't comprehend her strategy."
Now the narrative is that she mismanaged it intentionally? Should she be thrown in jail for ripping off shareholders then, like this place calls for the heads of banking CEOs?
Interesting that it's still considered such a popular brand. Although I know the brand I haven't typed 'yahoo' in the address bar or a search engine for years. I actually think this was the first time I wrote it anywhere for years, except in peoples' email. I don't think anyone I know have either. Never hear any mentioning of it except in tech circles like here. Do people really go there?
Kind of hubristic to extrapolate your own experience to the whole world and kind of provincial to extrapolate just the people in your direct experience to the whole world.
> While some are scared by the numbers, everyone I spoke to plans to make a bid of some sort, largely because even as financially precarious as it has become, Yahoo remains one of the biggest properties on the Web and it is hard to be able to buy that kind scale easily.
> “It’s like a dilapidated house in Silicon Valley — you walk in and are overwhelmed by the work that needs to be done and how bad it has gotten,” said one potential buyer. “But then it’s in a good neighborhood, the market is nuts and there’s not many like it anymore, so you have to hope you can fix it.”