Mergers produce synergies, as in (1+1) > 2, right? Yahoo!, after destroying billions in value during a half-decade free-fall is having a fire sale, ending soon (mid July 2016). Should anyone buy it? Mergers often fail to deliver promised synergies. Some firms do bad deals, while others do deals badly and, surprisingly, they often continue doing deals. Some firms are simply toxic. They acquire a great product, team, brand, customer base, etc., and soon enough, they screw it up. The teams leave, the customers leave, etc., and the synergies remain elusive.

So, Verizon (proud owner of AOL) is a front-runner in the bidding. Most any list of “top ten worst” tech deals will include: AOL-TimeWarner, Yahoo!-Tumblr, Yahoo!-Broadcast.com, Yahoo!-GeoCities, AOL-Netscape. Note any repeating names above? Seriously?

VZ investors: Run away.
YHOO investors: Hope this happens soon before another terrible quarter.