Ongoing Campaign to Invigorate Yahoo (YHOO) and an Options Strategy

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As I first mentioned on my personal blog Eric Jackson's Campaign to create shareholder value at Yahoo (YHOO) continues. He is still small relative to the total size of Yahoo but I hope he will continue to gather momentum.  Mr. Jackson is using every tool in the Web 2.0 arsenal; he's created a Wiki for the campaign, flickr group, a YouTube video channel and a of course his blog.

Let me say that I am a Yahoo fan.  For years MyYahoo.com has been my browser startup page; I pay to use Yahoo enhanced email; I have over 2000 photos on flickr; I find Yahoo finance to be almost as good as Bloomberg but without the $1800 a month pricetag; I have  even been using Yahoo's search recently and find it so greatly improved that I don't need Google as much.

In expectation that this campaign might gather more momentum and seeing that it is getting more press coverage, I recently added to my Yahoo (YHOO) position through a buy/write.  On Jan 17th I bought Yahoo shares at $28.97 and sold Jan 2008 35 strike calls for $1.95.  I have a net cost at expiration of $27.02 and will not have any upside beyond $35.00.  (As of today Jan 22, Yahoo has fallen to $27.50 and the options to $1.50.  This same buy/write could be had today for a much better net price of $26.00.)

I did a technocrati search for my blog and found coverage on the Plan "B" campaign from Publicidad y marketing en la red, a Spanish language blog.  My first appearance in Spanish. 

Here are the stats on Eric Jackson's Plan "B" for Yahoo taken from his Breakout Performance Blog.

Yahoo! "Plan B" Group Stats: As of 1/20/07

  • "Plan B" Advocacy Launched: 1/7/07
  • Current YHOO Shares Owned: 90K
  • Current YHOO Shares' Value: $2.4MM
  • YHOO's TSR since Launch: -0.36%
  • GOOG's TSR since Launch: 0.53%
  • NASDAQ's TSR since Launch: 0.70%
  • Relative Shareholder Value Created to GOOG: ($21,706)

Disclosures and Confessions:  I own Yahoo and plan to pledge my shares to the campaign.  However, if the shares rise above $35 I'm likely to start selling.  I'm short Jan 2008 35 strike calls against half my position of YHOO and am also short Jan 2008 30 strike puts. 

I like Yahoo!.  For years MyYahoo.com has been my browser startup page; I pay to use Yahoo enhanced email; I have over 2000 photos on flickr; I find Yahoo finance to be almost as good as Bloomberg but without the $1800 a month price tag; I have  even been using Yahoo's search recently and find it so greatly improved that I don't need Google as much.

Disclaimer:  Nothing in this blog is meant to be specific financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell.  I do not give investment advice.  Do your own research.  Do not rely on anything in this weblog to make investment decisions.  I do not log all my trades here. I only describe or mention those that I think might be interesting. Consult an investment professional familiar with your specific financial situation before buying or selling any security.