As a company, Yahoo has always been just a little bit different. Yahoo’s Silicon Valley “campus” is arguably the most collegiate corporate headquarters of any major company in the United States, with a distinct and often irreverent culture that is the antithesis of many modern corporations — including that of Microsoft Inc.
With the announcement last week that Microsoft is attempting to “buy out” Yahoo Inc. in its entirety with a $44.6 billion “unsolicited bid,” many Yahoo employees fear that a successful merger with Microsoft would rob Yahoo of its quirky and unashamedly humorous culture.
Within the IT industry, Microsoft has a reputation as the “big gray giant” on the playing field. A reputation only made worse by Microsoft’s monopoly-like status, and the dozens of anti-trust lawsuits filed against the corporation every year.
To the contrary, Yahoo has a reputation as a fun-loving workplace. A major part of Yahoo’s success has come from its sense of humor–not taking themselves too seriously. Even the company’s television commercials reflect this irreverence; the famous Yahoo yodel being one glaring example of the company’s quirkiness.
And though Yahoo’s stock has floundered over the past several years, the company’s spirits have remained high. That is, until the prospect of being swallowed up by Microsoft came into view. ZDNet.com is reporting that morale is now quite low at Yahoo’s Silicon Valley headquarters.
While employees are somewhat validated and encouraged by Microsoft’s huge multibillion-dollar offer for their company, at the same time, many feel that it is the end of an era, and that Yahoo’s quirky “Dharma Initiative” style progressive workplace will soon be a thing of the past.
Many feel there will be an inevitable culture clash should Yahoo become just another “tentacle” of the massive Microsoft Corp. Yahoo’s fun, irreverent and innovative culture could be the first casualty of a merger with Microsoft, and could potentially move the company far away from its quirky entrepreneurial roots, and toward a more traditional “gray suit and cubicle ” American company — in other words, boring.
But if Microsoft does take over Yahoo (and it appears they probably will), their best strategy would be to preserve as much of the company’s offbeat culture as possible. After all, Yahoo’s unorthodox workplace has attracted amazing talent to the company, and has led to many outstanding web innovations.
For now, Yahoo employees will simply have to wait and see if the special culture they have created over the years is strong enough to survive a takeover by “The Big Gray.”
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