What small business owners can learn from Yahoo:

GRETNA, La. - March 28, 2016 - PRLog -- Yahoo just can't catch a break, and they deserve not to. Running a business is hard, no matter the size, but some people fail to see when they are making mistakes, and more often than not, someone is ready to capitalize on those mistakes. Yahoo's management and board can't seem to make any good decisions regarding the ailing tech company. Given that their core company is theoretically valued at zero dollars, you would think they'd have made big plans to right the ship. But no, they considered selling certain major assets, but to no avail. Now, activist hedge fund group Starboard Capital is launching a proxy war to take over Yahoo's entire board.

Yahoo wants to sell its core business due to failures to stay competitive in the tech market; Google (Alphabet) and Facebook are two major threats Yahoo can't fully handle. For Starboard, this isn't enough, and the hedge fund wants a whole-sale replacement of the board. Luckily for Yahoo, the company has until the end of June to work out a deal, so not all hope is lost. At the end of June come's Yahoo's annual meeting, where if things don't improve, they could see Starboard take over the entire company.

Hostile takeovers are complex events. In my world of buying, selling, and improving businesses, both the buyer and seller are eager and willing to execute the deal. With a hostile takeover, the buyer, more often than not a hedge fund or similar entity, sees a business it wants to take over, but the board of the company does not want to relinquish control. Since the target company is publicly traded, the potential buyer can buy enough stock to push board members out. Activist investors, such as Starboard, or Carl Icahn, seek businesses that have potential, but currently underperform due to poor management and leadership. For many small businesses, poor management simply leads to failure, or significantly reduced value upon a sales attempt.

This is why I work with business owners to improve their company to capture the value it truly possess. At the end of the day, small business owners can learn a lot from watching Fortune 500 companies. Yahoo failed to adapt to a changing market and must now pay the Piper. Do not resist change when it is the only path towards the future. Be willing to adapt, make bold leadership choices to keep your business not only alive, but operating at 100% its capability.

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