Yahoo’s shares head for their lowest close since Microsoft

Morshad published 27 Jun 2008, 20:48 in main - 277 views

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As Yahoo’s shares head for their lowest close since Microsoft made public its takeover offer on February 1, it isn’t hard to find Yahoo critics both inside and outside the company.

We have heard from a number of employees and executives, not to mention shareholders, who have grown increasingly frustrated about the slow pace of change and the endless rounds of reorganizations, the latest of which was announced Thursday. (Of course, we also hear from people inside Yahoo who still back the current management and corporate strategy.)

Yahoo stock price over a six-month time frame.

Sometimes, the criticism is sharpest and most eye-opening when left unfiltered. For example, look at the e-mail from a Yahoo employee that Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky posted on his blog Friday. Here’s a taste:

As for the Google deal, HOORRAY! Now, you might be thinking that we employees — particularly those in Search — who have spent most of our waking hours trying to do battle with Google might in some way be disappointed that we are now getting into bed with the enemy. Au contraire! We love it! Nothing indicates a job well done better than outsourcing your own job to the competition. Am I right, or am I right? After all, it is not as if we had sold the entire search team to another company for a premium price — that would have been a slap in the face!

The e-mail is anonymous, but from the interviews we have conducted, it appears to be representative of the feelings of a not insignificant number of Yahoos. (If any of you Yahoos want to reach out and share your own feelings, you can e-mail me here.)

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company