The New York Times seems to agree with critics who suggest Yahoo’s board was not acting in the interest of shareholders as it fought off Microsoft offers for the company, including a final offer that in my view will prove to be somethng of an on-the-table smoking gun in this matter since Yahoo rejected a deal that would have allowed them to improve their own search monetizing routines rather than simply outsource them to Google.

The fact that Jerry Yang and David Filo, and the Yahoo board have a huge paper loss should give everybody pause to wonder about whether they may be rightt.  Perhaps keeping Yahoo pristine for a few years, unsullied by Microsoft’s cash and worldview, will lead to much higher stock prices?

…. or perhaps optimism and MS hostility has trumped common sense.

Disclosed:  Long on YHOO