The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft (MSFT) no longer wants to acquire Yahoo! (YHOO). Shares of Yahoo had lost 10%, or $2.63, to $23.52 as of 4 p.m Thursday. It will go down much further. Jerry Yang will be fired soon. The executive exodus will march on and Kara Swisher is making a career out of reporting on them.

Many criticize Ballmer, but as someone commented over at Barrons, “Ballmer’s mistake was he thought he was dealing with yahoos, not bozos.”

At the end of the day, the Yahoo! Board’s most serious mistake has been not to find a “real” CEO immediately after the departure of Terry Semel. Jerry Yang was never a CEO, and some on that Board admitted to me privately that it was a huge mistake to give him the job.

Just how big a mistake it was, is becoming increasingly evident.

Even today, though, in the hands of a capable turnaround CEO, Yahoo! can still be turned around.

There is still a chance that Microsoft will aid Yahoo!’s free fall in the stock price and come and buy it next year for a lot less than $33.

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Sramana Mitra

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