Microsoft – Yahoo: working against the deal

By rickColosimo / February 9, 2008 / Comments Off on Microsoft – Yahoo: working against the deal

A number of stories since the Microsoft bid have discussed what Yahoo might do to avoid Microsoft’s offer. Too few stories have explored what Yahoo actually has to do: the board’s fiduciary duties require it to maximize shareholder value. Anything less than that opens them up to suit for breach; the business judgment rule will…

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Microsoft puts Yahoo in play

By rickColosimo / February 4, 2008 / Comments Off on Microsoft puts Yahoo in play

The big news on Friday was Microsoft’s bear hug letter to Yahoo’s board. The news was announced before market open on Friday, and the >60% premium in Microsoft’s offer was quickly arbitraged away, leaving a much smaller spread (<10%) Wired today notes that the cultures might not be as far apart as everyone thinks. What…

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Long Hours in the Business World

By rickColosimo / January 8, 2008 / Comments Off on Long Hours in the Business World

Our two previous posts on the effects of long hours on errors and reduced productivity focused on two professions, doctors and lawyers. We picked those two rather than further explore the issue in the military because long hours for doctors and lawyers are purposely selected by managers whereas soldiers work long during wartime or training…

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Big law firm hours explained – competing interests

By rickColosimo / January 6, 2008 / Comments Off on Big law firm hours explained – competing interests

This is the second in our series of three posts relating to the idea that long hours, substantially over 40 hours per week, lead to reduced cognitive function and poor performance, most notably lower productivity per unit of time. Our first post reframed and rehashed these arguments in the context of the medical profession, notably…

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