What is it about Microsoft that Yahoo most hates?
By the end of today -- if TechCrunch's sources are right -- we may know whether Yahoo is going to accept or fight Microsoft's bid to buy out Yahoo.
Whether or not the final word comes down today -- and launches the antitrust-investigation phase of the proposed MicroHoo combination -- my question remains: Why are Yahoo management and many Yahoo employees so dead-set against becoming part of Microsoft?
Sure, Yahoos may believe they (somehow?) can make more money, in the long run, as an independent entity. But why has CEO Jerry Yang and the Yahoo board continually rebuffed not just Microsoft buyout offers, but seemingly even partnership arrangements with which the Redmondians have approached Yahoo over the past year-plus?
Yahoo seemingly isn't opposed to the idea of a takeover, as it allegedly has been soliciting other white knights (and unsuccessfully so). And the company seems open to partnerships, as it supposedly is mulling a plan to outsource its ad business to Google in order to thwart Microsoft's plans.
If you were the No. 2 search player with no real plan for closing in on No. 1, wouldn't you at least consider a Microsoft offer? What is it about Microsoft to which the Yahoos are so adamantly opposed?
Is it simply the loss of autonomy? Microsoft's perception by many outsiders as being completely clueless about the Web 2.0 world? The possibility of having to relocate to un-sunny Seattle?
If you were to pick the No. 1 reason you think Yahoo has been less than ecstatic about not just a Microsoft takeover, but any kind of partnership with the Redmondians, what would it be?
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Other write-in candiates welcome. Why do you think Yahoo hates Microsoft?