And so the Microhoo saga continues.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft plans to allocate $1.5 billion dollars to employee retention if the merger goes through. This is according to court documents in a shareholder lawsuit cited by the WSJ. According to CNET:
The documents include transcripts of a March 24 conference call hearing between attorneys for Yahoo and two Detroit-based pension funds. During the call, a Yahoo attorney noted Microsoft had informed the company that it "earmarked $1.5 billion for employee retention at Yahoo," cites the Journal.
The court transcripts note a Yahoo attorney stating, "there are no more reductions in force planned for the future."
This, and the fact that Search Engine Land is reporting that the $1.5 billion is not tied to severance packages, should at least let the 13,200 employees of Yahoo rest a little easier.
CNET points out that the per-employee amount of this $1.5 billion works out to about $113,636-that's more than 100% less than was allocated to Tellme Networks' employees after Microsoft took over that company.
But so the world turns, and tomorrow will involve further speculation and drama: TechCrunch says they know 8 of the next 12 board members to be nominated by Microsoft to the Yahoo shareholders in a hostile takeover, so that should give us something to chew on for a while.
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