Will Microsoft Get Jerry Fired?

The next act of the carefully choreographed Microsoft-Yahoo (MSFT YHOO) drama is playing out, with Microsoft now suggesting that it always knew it would have to go hostile and has therefore been planning to do so for months.

Will Microsoft really try to get Jerry and the board fired? Will they succeed?

Microsoft likely still views a full-on proxy fight as a last resort. The best way to avoid that last resort, however, is to act as though you have every intention of going through with it--and that's just what Microsoft is doing. Microsoft's preferred goal here is almost certainly to force Yahoo to the negotiating table, at which point Steve will toss Jerry a face-saving bone of a couple of dollars a share. In the meantime, to encourage Jerry to sit down, Steve will press forward with getting Jerry fired.

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