This morning, MSFT hinted that it would not be bidding any higher for Yahoo!, arguing that no one else has submitted any bids and the economy does not merit a higher price. Fair enough. I sold a boatload of my shares, part of the reason for that was thinking that the window for a higher price was shrinking.
Let’s face it: Yahoo! has messed up the handling of this offer almost as badly as it’s messed up operationally. I’ve been harsh on Yahoo!, but not as harsh as investors have been.
Alas, I think a major issue for companies large and small is the difference between having a sense of urgency and being in panic mode.
In life, sports, etc., being in panic mode is a sure fire recipe for disaster. You see it in sports all the time: company is sitting on a 3-0 lead, they give up a goal… then next thing you know, they start to worry and in goes a second goal. Before they know it, the game is tied 3-3… they go on to lose 5-3 with the fifth goal going in the empty net.
By game’s end, the players ask: what happened?
Yahoo! is in the same predicament.
While being in panic mode is never healthy, I think every organization, every department, every manager and every employee should operate with a sense of urgency.
It’s an extremely competitive space. It’s an extremely fast world. Startups have to operate with a sense of urgency: a sense of urgency to
- get to market,
- to become relevant,
- to iron out kinks,
- to remain relevant,
- to start to add points on the board,
- to remain on top when others gun for you.
Yahoo!’s demise - and really, as much as the company does have some fantastic assets - is a testament to Yahoo!’s most senior management and Board’s lack of sense of urgency.
It’s thus ironic and fitting that it is now Microsoft that can bide its time. When Q1’s results are announced… I sure do wonder what the market will think. I’ve kept 12.5% of my holdings because I want to keep some chips on the table, but when it comes to Yahoo!’s top brass, lord knows I’ve lost all hope.
The market has too.
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