Carl Ichan: Company Breaker or Wall Street Saviour?

I've been amazingly quiet on the latest Carl Ichan twists of the Microsoft-Yahoo saga. While the day-to-day news makes for fascinating early morning -- and increasingly weekend-- reading, I feel like we're basically saying a lot of the same things we've been saying from day one: The company belongs to the shareholders, Yahoo will eventually have to sell. I also always have to be careful reporting on this since I spend three days a week at Yahoo and want to respect the privacy of co-workers who talk about the deal as friends, not as sources. So, as I have to disclose all the time, I only report things I get from Yahoo sources, not as a Yahoo contractor.

All that said, Tech Ticker is about the view on Wall Street meeting the view in the Valley and there is no one who divides ranks more than Carl Ichan. Many people in the Valley view him as a destroyer of company value-- many people on Wall Street view him as someone who shakes management into unlocking nascent company value. (The fact that Ichan doesn't even own a computer certainly doesn't help his rep out here!) And ultimately, when you go public, the Wall Street view wins.

Here's some great analysis from Henry and Aaron today about Ichan, what his end game is and how much he's made so far. (As usual Henry can't seem to contain his excitment!) Also, they bring up a WSJ story that says Carnival has a faster growth rate than Yahoo. That might be the most damning stat I've seen. I've long argued that it was a management misstep for Yahoo to try to be Google, and continually allow itself to be compared to Google. But if you've got Yahoo's assets and can't grow faster than a cruise line that Kathy Lee Gifford used to shill for....Well, just watch because Henry says it better than I could.