http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=87760211704934203:144000:725000&hl=en
Last night, Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times and our own Michael Arrington appeared on the Charlie Rose Show to talk about —what else?—Yahoo, Microsoft and the non-deal that everybody can’t stop talking about. The segment is embedded above.
Michael notes in the piece that Microsoft has a long-term problem in that it has to figure out its Internet strategy. And even putting together AOL, MySpace, and Facebook does not bring what Yahoo does to the table: a real player in search. He also suggests that Microsoft might come back with another lower bid. And that Yahoo should have accepted the bid back in February.
He also notes that Yahoo’s banker, Goldman Sachs, was rumored to have gotten an independence fee, meaning it will be paid extra if Yahoo stays free. If true, it could have been working at cross-purposes. As he points out, on Saturday, the most important day of the deal, the company sends Jerry Yang and David Filo. He asks: “Why wasn’t [chairman] Roy Bostock there to make the deal?” Good question. Here’s another one that Mike poses: “Is Jerry Yang still going to be the CEO of Yahoo?”
(Check out Michael’s first appearance on the show from March).