If Microsoft wins Yahoo! by the end of this month, the deal will happen on the watch of its top M&A executive, Bruce Jaffe. But if not, not--since, as
previously reported here, Jaffe, the company's corporate vice president for corporate development, is leaving at the end of February. Maybe Jaffe, a twelve-year company veteran who led 20 transactions in the last two years, will change his mind. But that seems unlikely, since he must have known the Yahoo! bid was in the works.
Jaffe also must have a well-informed opinion on the decision to go after Yahoo! According to his
bio on the company website, he was previously CFO of MSN and oversaw its transformation into an advertising business.
Jaffe's plans haven't been made public, though there's speculation that he'll start his own venture. A January 9
Bloomberg article reported that Jaffe is leaving as Microsoft decentralizes control over deals, giving the leaders of its business units greater sway in the process.
Because
the Yahoo! bid is so much bigger than any previous Microsoft
deal, the company probably relied more on its bankers at Blackstone
LP and Morgan Stanley--rather than on the sizable deal team Jaffe led-- for the analytical spadework, one observer says. There doesn't seem to have been any word out of Microsoft on a new leader for the team. Microsoft's PR agency looked into the matter on Friday Feb. 1 but had no comment to relay.
Meanwhile we can say that Microsoft is looking to add to its "select team of corporate development pros," as a
job posting on the company website puts it. "This high-visibility role offers you opportunities to lead landscape-defining transactions with impact on a global scale," the posting promises. Guess they mean it, too. -
Kenneth Klee
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