We're delighted to see that TechCrunch has picked up on the topic we broached a week earlier: Is it time for Ballmer to go?
Indeed, Ballmer's pursuit of Yahoo was starting to look a bit obsessive, indeed self-destructive. And coming on the heels of a botched Vista launch, slowing PC sales and a frankly sluggish online strategy, Ballmer has hardly looked like the visionary CEO that Microsoft needs as it faces the transition from a PC-dominated world to one where web-centric applications are increasingly important. Something does seem to be rotten in Redmond.
But TechCrunch's timing is off. By backing away from Yahoo over the weekend, Ballmer has shown that he's capable of playing smart. His best strategy now is to let Yahoo twist, while disgruntled shareholders beat their drums all the way to Ballmer's office suite to holler about how they would have done the deal at $34. Now all he has to do is wait for Yahoo's stock to slide even further, quietly marshall support among Yahoo's major shareholders, and come back with a $33 bid in a month or two.
Or he could forget the whole Yahoo thing, and follow our recommendation to buy AOL for one quarter the price of Yahoo -- which is what he should do if, as he has said, all he's interested in is growing Microsoft's online market share.
We're not just crazy talking here either: The Times of London is reporting that Time Warner approached Microsoft over the weekend about selling AOL.
Stay tuned: TechCrunch should be posting on the wisdom of a Microsoft-AOL deal, oh, about May 9.
Photo: Jarda Brych / Wired.com
