Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang Not Likely to Lose Job According to Oddsmaker

BodogLife.com on Thursday evening released new business-related betting odds, honing in on both Yahoo! and its CEO, Jerry Yang, in addition to Virgin Mobile and a potential merger with Helio. 

The Economist offered a great take on what was transpiring with the "off again, on again, but mostly off again proposed merger of Microsoft and Yahoo":

Google has for the past three months enjoyed watching its only two serious rivals, Yahoo! and Microsoft, tear each other to pieces. Yahoo!, once an internet pioneer, has fallen far behind Google in web search and related advertising. Microsoft still dominates desktop computing but lags behind Google as software moves online. So Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's boss, dared ask Yahoo!: what would be wrong with making, if not exactly a dream team, at least a joint effort out of it?

But on May 3rd, after a frustrating marathon of meetings, Mr Ballmer walked away. He had raised his offer for Yahoo! from an initial $44.6 billion on January 31st to about $47.5 billion, some 70% more than Yahoo!'s value at the time of the opening bid. Jerry Yang, Yahoo!'s co-founder and boss, wanted at least $5 billion more. Mr Ballmer wrote him a bitter letter saying that “you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.” Wall Street's verdict, on May 5th, was to cut Yahoo!'s value to $34 billion.

The ultimate "no deal" begged the question: "Would Jerry Yang lose his title as CEO of Yahoo! by July 31st, 2008?

Bodog offered the betting line:

Yes

+180 (which is the underdog line paying $18 for every $10 bet)

No

-270

Bet On: Will Virgin Mobile merge, buy or otherwise take control of Helio in 2008?


Yes

-200

No

+150

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Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com

Originally published May 9, 2008 1:08 am EST