For anyone out there that's had suitors/offers, I'd love to know what the process for this kind of thing entails.
In a given strategic landscape, the number will be multiplied by some factor. For example, if facebook bought a, twitter bought b, google bought c, d may end up getting pre-emptive offers from microsoft, yahoo, and other suitors. It may or may not be a rational move. In other cases, a "unique" offering may be snapped up on the news that a competitor is sniffing around.
It can get crazy, with offers bumped up by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Although, This seems to be an acquihire to get to the technology and employees. And the product AFAIK, didn't really get the traction they were hoping for.
Can also be that the target is the one that approached Yahoo either directly or through an intermediary.
They do not easily throw money at you.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/duediligence.asp
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/due%20diligence
I will note that this differs from what wikipedia says is due diligence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_diligence
Unfortunately most of the information that is needed for true "due diligence" is not going to be possible until signing a contract or perhaps a letter of intent (which means very little of course).
I do not know whether the due diligence is supposed to be done after an offer, but when you are negligible to a company that will possibly acquire you, they just propose a due diligence and maybe a deal, or no deal. What would you choose?
Further, your question "How many companies have you sold?" is rude and irrelevant.
It gives me a huge amount of butthurt looking at people like you, as you are my age and a seasoned entreprenur, rich, happy and successful, and I am a miserable failure.
Sure you know how due diligence is done, probably you have had time to be good at knowledge and experience in business, while your employees whom you have made money from have been working barely seeing the sun.
Are all those people THAT worse than you to justify the income discrepancy, or are they worse than you at all?
Do you consider yourself superior to the people who are of your age or older and are still working as employees?
This seems so fucking unfair to me that people like you get THAT amount of money and life enjoyment. Are you really THAT good, that better than the people who are not entrepreneurs?
Looking at people like you, I suppose you believe you are extremely smart and special and the way you life turned was the only possible way.
The human world is so fucked up.
By the way, I do not think that the question "How many companies have you sold" is that rude, I was just trying to find out whether the person speaks from their experience or not. And definitely it is relevant. So go fuck yourself, smarty pants.