WebProNews

According to a statement Carol Bartz issued this morning, the new Yahoo-Microsoft deal "comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo, our users, and the industry."  But a significant number of Yahoo's (former) investors apparently didn't believe that line, and have sent the company's stock into something of a tailspin. 

People who bleed purple can try to put the matter into perspective; the whole stock market is having an iffy day, after all, with the Dow and Nasdaq down 0.86 percent and 0.85 percent right now, respectively.

Yahoo's down 12.08 percent at the moment, though, which signals the existence of problems on a rather larger scale.  Plus, if you stop to consider that the deal with Microsoft isn't supposed close before early 2010, it seems that there's lots of time left during which other shareholders may choose to flee.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's stock is up 0.72 percent, which makes it pretty clear which company investors believe is positioned to get the upper hand.

Don't be surprised if some Yahoo shareholders raise formal objections to the partnership, creating still more controversy and delays before anything gets done or possibly scuttling the whole deal.