$20 Billion Yahoo Search Deal Total Fiction

The Yahoo/Microsoft soap opera continues. The Times broke a story that Microsoft was going to buy the Yahoo search business for $20 billion. The deal also included a shake up in management. It is thought that Jonathan Miller, ex-chairman and chief executive of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, have been lined up to lead the new management team.

This entire story was discredited by Kara Swisher when she said Ross Levinsohn was quoted on the record saying this is “total fiction”. This whole thing seems to be cooked up with someone with a good imagination. Paying $20 billion for one piece of a company that only has an entire market cap of $16 billion seems to be pretty odd. Even compared to the original search deal highlighted by TechCrunch, Microsoft would pay over double the price for the business and guarantee double the money, all in a down economy. I think Uncle Carl is spreading rumors trying to prop up Yahoo’s poor stock price.