Surprise: Microsoft has a plan

I suppose everything has already been said, however, 99% of it is hyperbole.  It’s refreshing to see some folks actually think about it before they write something.  Mark Cuban points out the following:

That’s a problem for Jerry. Building a world class Yahoo to be the best company it possibly can be using the management skills that Jerry and company have is a far different challenge than optimizing the stock price. Particularly when Google is your stock comp. Which is exactly why Jerry and David should sell to MSFT.

Which is a great point.  Teaming up with Microsoft will give the Yahoo businesses the staying power to compete with Google.  I don’t think they would on their own.

Marc Andreessen then points out that this merger does not necessarily mean that startups will be less likely to be acquired.  Another great point that seems to run contrary to popular opinion. 

Lastly, I think people are underestimating MSFT here.  It’s not like they did not think this through.  They are smart and have likely played out all the scenarios before making the offer (including Google’s effort to thwart the merger).  They have a plan.  You can argue about whether they can make their plan work or not but I do think they have a very deliberate plan.