Jerry Yang posted on the Yahoo! blog today: "Those people underestimated the determination of Yahoo!'s incredible people, spirit and culture.

Our first quarter was probably one of the most exciting quarters in our history in terms of delivering innovative products and services that really move the needle and make a difference for our users and customers: Acquiring Maven Networks. Launching Buzz, OneSearch 2.0, voice-activated mobile search, video on Flickr, Shine. Previewing AMP! from Yahoo! and SearchMonkey. Adding more Newspaper Consortium members. Establishing our New R&D labs in India and Israel. Our first quarter results proved that we have the right strategy, a fantastic team, and that our investments are starting to pay off."

This was the justification for making it so hard to do the Microsoft deal that MSFT withdrew the offer?

Guess Jerry feels really good now.

As others have said, it's hard not to imagine that Monday, May 5th isn't going to be a day when:

• YHOO! shares plummet as there's a huge sell-off
• Employees come in to work wondering WTF
• There's a huge question about possible future layoffs, what the future direction of the company is, what the disappearance of those appealing MSFT severance packages means to retention, and where the core business now lies.
• Every asks, is Dan Farber right--does Y! think Y! OS and their social graph integrations are what will *save* their value?
  

My sense is that the gap between what many of the staffers thought about the deal, and a about Yahoo' future, is radically different than what the small circle of execs around Jerry and Sue are telling themselves(and each other).

Monday will be interesting,Where will Yahoo stock be end of the day?

Fred Wilson has a poll. I predict the stock is at $22.80 end of day.