Yang and Bostock can't agree on whether to sell Yahoo search
Do Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock disagree on whether Yahoo should ever sell its search business to Microsoft? Citing several sources, BoomTown's Kara Swisher says she knows what Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang wants, period:
Yang simply does not want to sell of his search business wholesale and wants a second chance to try to revive Yahoo, with him or people picked by him and the board, despite his inability to do so thus far. He would sell Yahoo whole if that’s the only choice.
But while Yang "simply does not want to sell of his search business" Microsoft said yesterday that
Mr. Bostock called Steve Ballmer’s office to arrange a call. On that subsequent call, Mr. Bostock told Mr. Ballmer that “with substantial guarantees on the table and an increase in the TAC (traffic acquisition cost) rate, there are the pillars of a search only deal to be done.”
After hardly participating in negotiations with Microsoft at all during the first few months of this ordeal — and subsequently watching Yang blow the negotiations — Bostock now seems to be the only guy at Yahoo talking to Microsoft. Problem is, he can't convince the co-founder and CEO Yang to go along with any of his ideas. What with corporate raider Carl Icahn trying to have his way too, no wonder Microsoft wants a new Yahoo board and new Yahoo management. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can be a little tyrannical, but he's no Kim Jong-il in need of six-party talks. (We would love to see him wearing the shades.)