SEO Blog

This is just a quick speculative post. I’ve been watching Yahoo!’s stock performance since yesterday’s opening and have been pleasantly surprised at the direction shares prices are going in. Believe it or not, they are generally going upwards.

Yesterday, YHOO opened at $23.28 per share and rose gently through the day to close at $24.37 per share. This morning, it opened far higher at $25.55 per share, instantly fell to $24.20 per share and then quickly rose to peak at $26.03, the point they trade at right now (12:10 pm-pacific).

This was NOT an expected outcome. When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer openly closed the door on a deal, observers anticipated immediate and extraordinary losses for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Though down from their Valentine’s Day peak of $29.98, YHOO is still trading well above their low of $19.18, the day Ballmer announced Microsoft’s acquisition attempt.

Donning my counter-intuitive thinking cap, (and opening this round of speculative writing), I’ve been trying to make sense of Yahoo!’s NASDAQ yo-yo act.

My first thoughts think there is a massive buyer out there snatching up blocks of stock as they become available. That could make sense given the public sense that Microsoft hasn’t really backed away from the deal. If Microsoft or an institution friendly to Microsoft was buying votes in the form of YHOO shares, we could be looking at a kinder and gentler type of hostile takeover bid. May 15, incidentally, is the last date a proxy-fight can be openly initiated before Yahoo!’s annual general meeting on July 3.

Similarly, perhaps there are a number of institutions and large buyers lining up to pick a piece of Yahoo!’s pocket in the event it becomes a target again.

In a dissimilar vein my second thought thinks there might be a large buyer friendly to Yahoo! shoring up share prices in the hopes of pacifying a greater Yahoo! shareholders revolt while deepening their own business arrangements around Yahoo!. Building on extremely shaky ground requires seismic shoring or the foundation will crack before the walls are built. Better to stabilize the platform before building a bigger structure.

I have a third thought but it’s just too wacky to be believed… Perhaps, just perhaps (like in an alternative universe where most of us would rather live but don’t…), regular investors are seeing value in Yahoo! shares. The only thing propping that theory up is the fact that many investment firms have moved YHOO from “sell” to “hold” status today.

The Microhoo drama remains one of the most interesting stories to watch. As things stand right now, it hardly looks like it’s over.