It’s hard to believe, but after all these years, the Yahoo board is still a contender for America’s worst corporate board.
The announcement last week that the board is officially exploring “strategic alternatives” code for a sale and hiring advisers is confirmation that it is still stumbling, refusing to take a stand as its chief executive, Marissa Mayer, flounders.
Yahoo’s decision is something of an about-face from only a few months ago.
Then, the board had decided that a spinoff of Alibaba stock was too risky.
The issue was tax the I.R.S. had stopped approving these transactions and although its law firm was willing to bless the transaction, the Yahoo board decided not to go forward.
Instead, the company said that “market perceptions” dictated that it do another transaction.
The board would spin off Yahoo itself and, for good measure, said it would consider “alternatives.”
