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Hang in there, Yang tells shareholders

In a letter to shareholders, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang recounted the company's strengths and said management will make its advertising services a must buy for marketers and publishers.

Those who followed Yahoo, inside or outside, for a length of time, have heard the message before: hurry up and wait, we're on the way, just look at what we have accomplished so far.

The essential detail behind Yang's shareholder letter claimed they will move from 15 percent of the online ad market in 2007, to 20 percent at some point over the next several years.

Yang argued on several points about Yahoo's strengths. "Yahoo! is #1 in online display advertising, which represents 90% of the advertising inventory on the web, and we are also a leader in search marketing and a pioneer in the growing fields of mobile advertising and online video advertising," he said.

He also cited the various partners carrying Yahoo advertising, like eBay, Comcast, AT&T, and the consortium of newspapers formed over the past year.

Now the choice for shareholders comes down to an issue of trust. Do they choose to believe Yang, and his assertions that the market undervalues an exceptionally strong Internet brand?

Or do they agree with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who politely summarized in the public announcement of the takeover bid what lots of shareholders feel about Yahoo's leadership?

His observation on Yahoo's rejection of a Microsoft overture in February 2007, based on Yahoo's belief its new search marketing system and a reorganization would lift the company's fortunes, simply said: "A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved."

Yang wants shareholders to wait through Yahoo's most recent set of ongoing transformations. Ballmer thinks time has run out for current leadership to accomplish what they want to do. Eventually, the shareholders will decide what they believe: promises, or a 60+ percent premium on an investment that has lost more than half of its value since January 2006.