July 10, 2008
Yahoo sups with key shareholder in Sun Valley
It was a fairly public setting but some of the key players in the Microsoft-Yahoo saga still managed to have a very private pow-wow in the Sun Valley Inn late on Wednesday night. Huddled in deep conversation around a table at one end of the bar were Sue Decker, Yahoo’s president, Terry Semel, the company’s former chief executive, and Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google.
Brin’s presence was of particular note, given the search deal Yahoo agreed with Google after failing to agree a purchase by Microsoft.
Joining them was Bill Miller of Legg Mason, the US fund which owns more than 5 per cent of Yahoo’s stock. After the group dispersed, Mr Miller and Ms Decker spent a few minutes laughing and joking outside the bar - suggesting, perhaps, that at least one of Yahoo’s key shareholders continues to have faith in the group’s management.
Bill Gates made his first appearance at Sun Valley earlier today, dashing out of a presentation on 3-D cinema by Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation. Following him at speed out of the doors of the Sun Valley Inn were Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, who were doing their best to avoid the phalanx of photographers assembled outside.
Mr Gates has remained tight-lipped on the prospects of a Yahoo deal but presumably will not have been too heartened to hear about the united front on show in the bar the previous evening.
