Intology – Intelligent Technology News
Computers Technology Internet Arts Business Science Sports

The Google and Microsoft/Yahoo competition is getting a lot of recognition. It’s no longer a subject of conversation merely for the technorati. It’s a public concern, gaining national attention.

And when Yahoo confidante Carl Icahn sold millions of his shares in the company, someone was not happy. That someone was Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz who has a very unpleasant way of letting people know that she’s not happy.

Carl Icahn, Mr. Billionaire investor of the silicon valley himself, holds a sizeable chunk of the shrinking pie that they call Yahoo. And now, in the middle of a very troubled time for Yahoo, he decides to sell a millions of shares at the tune of $15 apiece, not necessarily a gainful sale, considering he lost about $125 million in the process. When Icahn initially bought into the company a year ago, he gained a whopping 5.4% of the Internet search giant, plus a couple of seats on the board. Now, Icahn’s holdings stand at 4.48% of the company value, and he still has the seats, but apparently, it’s pretty hot.

So why did Icahn freak out and let go, knowing full well that he would lose a cool $125 mil? The lie that he told to the Securities and Exchange Commission was that he needed to balance his portfolio, which is a vague way of saying nothing.

The resultant drop in Yahoo’s stock was enough to shake the company up a little bit, but more shaking is probably going on in the CEO’s office. Carol Bartz fired off a memo to her staff recently, that gives the public a whiff of how tense things really are at Yahoo’s Santa Clara headquarters. Here’s a sample: “So get out of the sugar low-we have work to do. Stop staring at our navels, stop arguing with each other. Stop debate, debate, debate, and let’s focus on the competition.”

And there you have a microcosm of three responses to the Yahoo + Microsoft search decision. Icahn wants no part of it, and selling a bit was his way of saying so. Bartz is nervous, but bullheaded about it. It must go through at all costs, and it must be successful. The employees are hanging on for the ride, crossing their fingers and glancing at their retirement packages, while wishing that it would all just be over with.

In economy-speak, no one is quite sure why Icahn did what he did. The small window for share selling by officers closed on Monday. And apparently, he still thinks that Yahoo is going to be ok, but no one knows for sure, not even Icahn, for all his investment genius.