Alas, poor Yahoo!. We knew you, Jerry: a fellow of infinite surprises, of most questionable judgment: he hath borne criticism on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in Microsoft’s mind he is! we cringe to think of it.
Well, before we make Shakespeare spin in his grave, here’s the Cliff Notes version: Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) tried to buy Yahoo! earlier this year, at $33 per share. Yahoo! spurned Microsoft’s merger advances a number of times, and Microsoft finally retreated. Yahoo! hoped a Google Inc.(GOOG) ad-outsourcing deal would save its future. Said deal went to live with the fishes this week and Yahoo’s Jerry Yang said he’s now open to a Microsoft acquisition. But Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer said, ‘Uh-uh, no way, we’re done.’
Have we reached the end of this Hamlet-like saga?
