“诚如外界所报道，詹森•基拉尔曾经是雅虎CEO搜寻委员会的热门人选。但他已经很有风度地拒绝了雅虎的美意。”

    对方还只是在考虑，他却连机会都不给。我们暂且不论他的决定算不算愚蠢。很明显，这种好事很少有人会拒绝。如果我说我正在考虑邀请亚伯特•普候斯（亚伯特•普侯斯为美国职棒大联盟的著名棒球手——译注）加入公司的垒球队，他是肯定不会拒绝的。

    那么Hulu到底要传达什么讯息？下面是几种可能性：

1. 基拉尔根本不希望得到这份工作。他在Hulu过得很舒心。据报道，去年雅虎开出20亿美元的收购价，但Hulu对此不屑一顾。至少，在Hulu，基拉尔很清楚自己所面临的问题，而如今的雅虎，在许多人看来，已经成为一个绝望的无底洞。

2. 基拉尔希望得到这份工作，但他预感到成功的可能性不大。因此，这是一种能保全面子的理解。目前的主流观点是，列文森自从接任斯科特•汤普森以来，表现一直很出色。而且，就在今天，雅虎成功解决了与Facebook 的专利争端。要知道，列文森已经是雅虎在过去十二个月内任命的第三位CEO。雅虎基层是否还能接受领导人第四次变更呢？也许正是因为基拉尔意识到这些情况，因此，他正竭力给外界造成一种印象：是他自己决定主动退出，而不是被弃用。

3. 基拉尔并没有退出竞争。这种理解就是所谓的双重保密招聘理论。基拉尔目前还是Hulu公司的CEO，毕竟在得知自己公司大无畏的领导人计划跳槽的消息之后，很少有公能够继续保持良好的发展势头。所以，表面上，他正式宣布退出，实际上背地里仍没停止接触。如果雅虎向他提出工作邀请，他就可以面带愧色地向Hulu员工解释，他拒绝过雅虎，但现在他们给出的邀请令人根本无法拒绝。

    读者朋友有何高见？

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Earlier this morning, there appeared to be two finalists for the Yahoo (YHOO) CEO job: Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and Hulu boss Jason Kilar.

    But now there is only one, as Hulu just issued the following statement:

    What does "graciously declined" really mean?

    "As has been reported, Jason Kilar has been a focus of the Yahoo CEO search committee. He has graciously declined to be considered."

    First, let's leave aside the obvious silliness of someone declining to be considered. Pretty sure that's not really something you can decline. For example, I'm considering Albert Pujols for my company softball team. Come on Albert, try to stop me.

    So what exactly does Hulu mean? Here are a few options:

1. Kilar just doesn't want the job. He's happy at Hulu. You know, the company that reportedly spurned Yahoo's $2 billion acquisition offer last year. At least he knows the business issues he faces, rather than diving into what many believe is a bottomless pool of despair.

2. Kilar wants the job but saw the writing on the wall. This is the face-saving option. Popular sentiment is that Levinsohn has done a good job since taking over for Scott Thompson, including today's news that Yahoo has settled its patent dispute with Facebook (FB). Moreover, he is the company's third CEO in the past 12 months. Can the rank-and-file really handle a fourth change in leadership? Maybe Kilar came to these realizations late, and is trying to make someone else's decision look like his own.

3. Kilar is still in the running. This is the double-secret recruitment theory. Kilar is still CEO of Hulu, and few companies do well upon hearing that their fearless leader is looking to switch teams. So he officially pulls out, but keeps back channels open. If he gets an offer from Yahoo, then he sheepishly tells the Hulu troops that he tried telling Yahoo no, but then received an offer that he couldn't refuse.

    You got an alternate theory?