Is the general premiss that if Yahoo stays the course they'll die a slow death and this measure extends their runway even more? Last time I checked, Yahoo still made a billion dollars last year. They aren't anywhere near dead.
I don't understanding why they should abdicate their responsibility and right to what's probably going to be 5-10 billion in post ipo facebook stock.
They are making changes to fix the long-term view and still are doing interesting R&D things. Hopefully, they find more interesting ways to make money from business operations. Is the argument that if your long-term position isn't right, they can buy the equivalent or more of goodwill by cutting Facebook a pass? Would that make you leave where you work to join Yahoo? Would it be 5+ billion worth of culture building? If so, would that REALLY mean they were back on the right track, or bring them the people that could help them do so?
There's no such responsibility. All they have to do is add up expected gain vs expected loss to see that it's not a good idea. And it's entirely possible they're going to walk away with no money in this case. Even if it turns out to be $10 billion it might still may end up a net loss.
This is a pet peeve of mine. There's no fiduciary responsibility to make the most money in shortest period of time without regard for the future. In fact I would argue it's exactly the opposite.
Even if Yahoo wins $4 billion dollars they might lose more than that in harm to their reputation, boycotts, hiring problems, counter-suits, etc.
A reasonable person in their position might have reasoned that this lawsuit was a bad idea. Yes: it might make them some cash (which isn't their problem), but it also might hurt them in much more fundamental ways (which they can't afford).