At Capital Research & Management, an investment management firm and longtime Yahoo shareholder, media-savvy stockpicker Gordon Crawford has raised its stake in the company to more than 16 percent, from $4 billion to $6 billion at current prices, some time in the past three months. The stock's chart strongly suggests that his buy came after Microsoft's bid sent Yahoo shares soaring. What that means: Crawford believes Microsoft will succeed in its bid for Yahoo, but only after raising its price. That's a fair turnabout from his earlier concerns that a higher price for Yahoo would mean losses from his firm's stake in Microsoft that outweighed gains from its Yahoo position. Capital's huge bet on Yahoo means that CEO Steve Ballmer's hand is weakened in resisting calls to up Microsoft's offer.

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