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Complex Negotiations: Microsoft and Yahoo, Act II

Posted by Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay on May 5, 2008 2:28 PM

Microsoft’s decision on Saturday to drop its bid for Yahoo created disappointment all around, particularly for Yahoo shareholders, who saw the stock tumble about 15% by midday Monday.

But as Heidi N. Moore suggests in the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft’s “no” might mean “maybe,” and the two companies could find themselves in talks again. If so, those talks will happen under very different circumstances.

Yahoo’s devaluation would put added pressure on Jerry Yang to reach a deal. Steve Ballmer would be on a hotter seat, too, due to Bill Gates’s departure from an active role at Microsoft. And the various actions and reactions of partners, competitors, suppliers, consumers, and markets will all have changed the negotiation context in a thousand unpredictable ways.

Negotiating in a complex and constantly shifting landscape isn’t a challenge faced only by big companies making big deals; it’s universal. The following free resources can help you surmount this challenge:


Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay is the editor of Harvard Management Update.


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