> ...abdicate their responsibility...
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.
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?