Why No One Cares About the Plan to Save Yahoo!

Yahoo! has consistently talked about generating value for shareholders. Yet shareholders, such as hedge fund heavyweight Dan Loeb of Third Point, have attacked the company for doing just the opposite. When the company announced it would name its own directors to the board instead of picking some of Loeb's, Third Point attacked the Internet giant in a fiery press release.

"Sadly for shareholders - who will once more bear the costs - the consequence of the Board's refusal to accept Third Point's shareholder-friendly proposals will be a time-consuming and distracting proxy contest that the Company can ill-afford," the release said. Loeb, who has never been known to mince words, referred to the board as "dysfunctional."

The majority of Yahoo!'s value at this point is in its Asian assets, yet no one has come forth with a viable plan on how to unlock this. Yahoo!, for example, tabled a deal to unlock value earlier this year. For his part, Loeb set up a website explaining that his board nominees could unlock value, but did not give a plan.

The transactions to sell Yahoo!'s 40% stake in Alibaba and a 34.9% stake in Yahoo! Japan would've been worth an estimated $17 billion to $18 billion. Yahoo!'s current market cap is $18.2 billion. That values Yahoo!'s core business, which Thompson spoke about in his memo, at $200 million. At a valuation of $200 million, does anyone really care what happens?

Thompson's plan may boost company morale for a bit as people know what's expected of them, but in the eyes of the consumer, Yahoo! is a dying brand. The inability to find a Chief Marketing Officer speaks volumes about the state of the company.

The commercials ask "Do you Yahoo!?" Don't be surprised if the response is "Do I care?"

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--Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York

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