Indeed. At troubled companies, executive compensation (via severance package) is often tied to a successful sale of the firm, and this is the case with YHOO:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/07/technology/marissa-mayer-sev...

If getting the deal done is the only objective, exaggerating the direness of the situation might help shareholders get on board for a deal, perhaps out of fear. It also makes a lower price more palatable.

Of course, I have no details of what is actually going on, so what I've written could just be rampant speculation.