Yahoo Planned Huge Worker Walkout: Lawsuit

Execs also hid $1.5B Microsoft offer to employees

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 2, 2008 9:10 PM CDT

(Newser) – Yahoo planned to pay all 14,000 workers to quit if Microsoft bought the company in a recent takeover bid, a lawsuit unsealed today claims. The shareholder complaint blasts execs for burying Microsoft's $1.5 billion offer to workers, and rejecting a $40-per-share offer last year. Yahoo tried to stop the unsealing, which revealed internal talks and private emails, Portfolio reports.

In one email, a Yahoo consultant called CEO Jerry Yang's walkout plan "nuts," while a VP described it as "a bizarre outcome if people who stick around make off worse" than those who leave. The 42-page complaint also slams Yahoo's board for letting Yang handle the talks, and leaving independent directors out of "critical meetings with the company."

Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Monday, May 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

In this Jan. 6, 2008 file photo, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang smiles during his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)

A Yahoo worker leaves Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Monday, May 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Striking Yahoo janitors and supporters hold signs during a rally in front of Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., Tuesday, May 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

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Yahoo Planned Huge Worker Walkout: Lawsuit

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Microsoft Aims for Yahoo's Search Ad Biz

But execs don't like plan, which includes breaking up company

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Turning down Microsoft's sweetened bid may cost company in coming weeks

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CEO not impressed by Yahoo's Q1 profits

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