Ever since Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo, the drama has been persistent and the speculation rampant. I will assume you are familiar with the story. Microsoft makes its unwanted bid. Yahoo scrambles to do anything they can to thwart the bid: poison pill packages for post-acquisition severance and stock vesting; “strategic” alternatives with News Corp, AOL, and anybody else willing to listen; outsourcing deals with Google; etc. Shareholders are pissed, lawsuits are a plenty. Negotiations are entered between Microsoft and Yahoo but nobody really expects anything to come of them – they’re more for show than a reality. The distance between the two parties is too great. Microsoft finally walks away. Lest anyone get there hopes up that the drama be over, Icahn comes in blazing with a board slate he is ready to nominate for a proxy fight to take over Yahoo and force a sale. The pressure is back on…

Will Yahoo be able to withstand this latest onslaught? And if they do, will they be able to continue toward a path of success or will they be permanently injured? I don’t know. They may lose the battle to Icahn. Or, they may win only to suffer a mass exodus of talent and a weakened position in the marketplace. But one thing is for sure – I am rooting for them.

Yahoo is the underdog. They are 2nd place in search by a wide margin. They’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past that might lead one to lose faith in their ability to execute. But they are improving; as a Yahoo partner I have seen the changes first hand. And they are ballsy and they have some big bets in place for the future. They’ve got a number of web properties that are #1 or #2 in their space. They are a leader in display advertising. Now Yahoo has put forth a vision that has the chance of transforming the company in the form of Yahoo Open Strategy and AMP (advertising management platform). Read more about Open Strategy here, here, and here. Watch a video about AMP here

It’s going to be exciting to watch it all play out. Good luck Yahoo!