Well, That Was $36 Million Well Spent …

$36 million. That’s what Yahoo spent in the first half of 2008 for outside counsel on Microsoft’s (MSFT) unsolicited takeover offer and the debacle that followed. “We incurred incremental costs of $36 million primarily for outside advisers related to Microsoft’s proposals to acquire all or a part of the Company, other strategic alternatives, the recently resolved proxy contest, and related litigation defense costs,” Yahoo disclosed in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

$36 million. That’s quite a sum, and one that doesn’t even begin to reflect costs in employee attrition, shareholder confidence and other intangibles–Carl Icahn voodoo dolls, company founder cognitive therapy, etc. $36 million to fumble a deal that would have put a premium of more than 62 percent on the share price of a floundering Internet pioneer. $36 million spent on advisory services for an acquisition deal that was well within reach, but never consummated.

$36 million to walk away from $47.5 billion. And we haven’t yet seen costs for July and Yahoo’s (YHOO) annual meeting. That should set the company back another million in uneaten pastry alone.