Mark Cuban: Yahoo In Slump Because Yang Is ‘Too Nice’

In an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg TV, billionaire Mark Cuban said Yahoo’s (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang should have accepted Microsoft’s (MSFT) $47.5 billion buyout offer. The software giant walked away in May of this year from talks of a proposed acquisition after Yahoo demanded a higher price than the $33/share offered by Microsoft, something that all signs indicate Microsoft has little desire to revisit.

Cuban during his interview said:

“Yahoo’s got a lot of avenues they could take, but all of them depend on being a lot meaner and a lot more aggressive and that’s just not their style. Jerry’s too nice a guy and cares too much. Sometimes when a competitor like Google comes along, you’ve got to get mean and you’ve got to get tough.”

Cuban, who already has ties to Yahoo after selling his start-up Broadcast.com Inc. to the co. for $5.9 billion in July 1999, thinks Yang may not be tough enough to pull the company out of its slump. Ironically, today the Dallas Mavericks owner (and currently bidding to buy the Chicago Cubs) has more of a net worth than the founders of the co. that bought him out in ‘99. He currently ranks #161 richest American according to Forbes. Yahoo founders, David Filo and Jerry Yang are tied at rank 281.

Cuban during the interview also mentioned the fact that a firmer and more aggressive stance against competitor Google (GOOG) could have preserved jobs at the Web Portal. (Yahoo has announced plans to cut 10% of its 15,000 workforce).

YHOO fell $0.22 or (1.78%) to $12.14 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, 52wk Range: $11.25 - $32.37. The Redmond, Wash-based Microsoft (MSFT) added $0.15 or 0.65% after hours to $23.15. 52wk Range: $20.65 - $37.50.

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