Timid Reporter Interviews Sue Decker

Coffee Club Newsletter ©
Volume 18, No. 32 - May 5, 2008

Any similarity to persons actually living or events actually happening is coincidental.

TR: Good afternoon. Are you Sue Decker?
SD: Are you a Yahoo! shareholder?
TR: No ma'am, I'm the Timid Reporter.
SD: Thank God. Come in please.
TR: Thank you. Your security people took my notes so I'm going to have to improvise.
SD: Welcome to the club. Please sit over here, away from the windows.
TR: Could I have a beer?
SD: Why, of course. I have practically any brand you could name.
TR: Corona Light?
SD: Sure.
TR: You're not surprised I drink on the job?
SD: Not at all. We all do nowadays.
TR: I would like to know about the Yahoo! deal with Microsoft.
SD: You know, I don't think I can enlighten you beyond what I've stated publicly already. Maybe it wasn't meant to be.
TR: What about what you've said privately?
SD: There was more going on than anyone suspects.
TR: You mean behind the scenes?
SD: No, not only that. There are always issues around, on top of, and behind the purely business issues. The two companies had armies of people working to cover all the angles and they did a pretty good job of it.
TR: How did all this start anyway?
SD: My guess is that the idea for the acquisition probably came from Jill.
TR: Jill who?
SD: My best friend. She was hired by Microsoft not long before they made their offer. I had Jill track down some leads and everything pointed to her.
TR: Jill who?
SD: Jill Nash, our Chief Communications Officer at Yahoo!
TR: So the first Jill is the bad Jill?
SD: No, no. She just works for Microsoft. That doesn't make her bad. That's just her way of getting a raise.
TR: Ok, then?
SD: Well, I asked Michael to get me some numbers right away.
TR: Michael who?
SD: Murray, our Chief Accounting Officer. I needed to know where we stood financially, as far as present and future values, etc.. Michael advised us to wait as long as possible to see if the stock price would go up.
TR: The same Michael?
SD: No, Michael Callahan, our General Counsel. In the meantime, Michael was making life difficult for me at home.
TR: The first Michael?
SD: No, Michael, my ex-husband to be.
TR: Oh.
SD: I heard a rumor that Jill and David had dreamed this up together.
TR: Jill Nash and David Filo?
SD: No, Jill Greenthal and David Cole at Microsoft.
TR: Who's David Cole?
SD: He's one of Steve's top people.
TR: Steve who?
SD: Ballmer.
TR: The CEO at Microsoft?
SD: You finally got one right. Good for you. Want another beer?
TR: Yes. This is beginning to get interesting.
SD: Anyway, the big day comes and Jerry and I trek on down to San Francisco and guess what?
TR: The bad Jill is there.
SD: No, no - much worse. Bill's not there.
TR: Jill's not there, and that's bad?
SD: Bill, not Jill.
TR: Bill who?
SD: Gates. He does not bother to show. Only Steve is there with some other key people, but Bill is absent.
TR: Let me guess.
SD: What?
TR: You felt slighted. You felt personally insulted.
SD: Somewhat. I tried not to show it but I decided right then and there that we would not accept any offer from them, no matter how high it went.
TR: And Jerry, how did he feel?
SD: He was going along for the ride. He let me handle everything. I had carte blanche to negotiate with Steve any way I saw fit. All the while, I was having visions of Michael taking our Rolls Royce out of our garage and hiding it somewhere while we negotiated the terms of our divorce and that was making me angry.
TR: Did Steve know how you were feeling?
SD: About Michael?
TR: No, about Bill.
SD: He didn't have a clue. He thought we were just being rude.
TR: Or worse.
SD: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. That's not the end of the process though.
TR: How do you know?
SD: Steve gave me a knowing wink toward the end, when nobody was looking.
TR: Maybe he was just flirting with you, knowing how Michael and you....
SD: No, it was not that kind of wink - it was a business wink.
TR: Thank you Ms Decker.