Way back on January 31st, Yahoo’s stock closed at $19.18 per share. Then Microsoft’s unsolicited acquisition offer nudged things up towards $29. Unfortunately for investors, all that progress has been lost.
Yahoo’s stock closed at $19.17 on Tuesday. No selloff ensued, which at this point has to be put in the “good news” column. But people didn’t embark on a buying spree, either, and since the end of trading yesterday saw Yahoo close at $19.11 per share, the dip under $19.18 doesn’t appear to have been a fluke.
Yahoo’s Recent Rise And Fall
Anyone who bought stock near Yahoo’s February peak is guaranteed to be unhappy at this point; having lost around 34 percent of an investment, they’ll be lucky not to experience palpitations. Normal shareholders who saw a profitable situation disappear may not be in the best of moods, either.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Carl Icahn and the two Yahoo board members he selected are adding this occasion to some sort of list that they’ll present against Jerry Yang at a later date. And if Steve Ballmer – or someone representing any company with a fair amount of cash – wandered back to the bargaining table, an acquisition might be inevitable.
The real value of Yahoo at $19.11 per share is little different from what it would be at $19.18, of course, but investors are people, not calculators, and this loss looks bad.
