Jerry gets an unfair rap. I really hope Yahoo can make it through this rough patch without succumbing to the fangs of the big M. First of all, Yahoo is still

Jerry gets an unfair rap. I really hope Yahoo can make it through this rough patch without succumbing to the fangs of the big M. First of all, Yahoo is still a young company, relatively speaking. There are a multitude of far worse examples in stock-price fluctuation and company valuations over time. For those who disagree, I'll point you to one of the pioneering (and free!) resources for such information: Yahoo! Finance at http://finance.yahoo.com/ http://finance.yahoo.com/ Second, how can anyone blame him for wanting to keep Yahoo independent from Microsoft? It's Microsoft, for the sake of Pete. The number and types of stakeholders (which are technically different from shareholders, but still important) are a different breed. There was a time I had a stock portfolio, and I owned shares of both Microsoft and Yahoo! -- for very different reasons: I admired the formidable online presence of Yahoo, and I thought (at the time, in early 2005) that Microsoft had a great business in its console gaming business with the X-Box. Third, Microsoft's bid for Yahoo is a reactive to the shift to changes in the market. And one of the (highly intangible) advantages of being a first-mover is bargaining power over distribution channels. Yahoo, being in its more formidable online position (as interest switches from desktops to the web) operates in an entirely different sphere than Microsoft and should be able to reap the rewards of their investment in the online sphere. If shareholders don't see it now, they will someday -- if they allow Yahoo! to continue independent. Short-term greed kills innovation.