Do you think Yahoo CEO Terry Semel has a Cheshire Grin on his face these
days when it comes to Google. About half of Yahoo's fourth-quarter profit -
US$185-million - came from selling a million Google shares. Yahoo is still
sitting on four million shares, which are worth about US$800 million these
days - give or take a few million bucks. It's not a bad return for a US$10
million investment. While Google is likely less than thrilled about
financing its major rival, the reality is entrepreneurs often have to accept
money wherever they can get it. At the time, Sergey Brin and Larry Page were
probably overjoyed to get money from a blue-chip company such as Yahoo.
Without it, Google may never have become Google.