Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion For Yahoo

The news is everywhere this morning about Microsoft's $44.6B offer to buy Yahoo. The offer represents $31 a share, a 62% premium over Thursday's closing price; and Yahoo's stock price has been rising in after-hours trading. Microsoft has been making overtures to Yahoo since 2006, according to the CNet article, including a buyout offer last February that was rebuffed. Mediapost.com has some perspective on the deal from the point of view of ads and eyeballs. Such an acquisition, which would be Microsoft's largest by far — it bought Aquantive last year for $6 billion — would need approval by US and EU authorities. A European Commission spokesman declined to comment.

Microsoft is "innovating" again...

[rinkjustice]

Yahoo confirmed that it has received an unsolicited offer and said that its board would evaluate the proposal, "carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders."

Judging by this blurb, I think the answer is going to be a big, fat yes.

Pirate Bay

[rdradar]

Now MS should bid for Pirate Bay [torrentcentral.net] aswell!

Priceless quote.

[jwietelmann]

From the article:

"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player, who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition," Microsoft said.

Sound like anyone you know?

Thankyou Microsoft

[arcite]

Now I'll be able to get my Britney Spears fix from one source instead of two.

Re:Zimbra

[Constantine XVI]

Just in case you just now got out of the DeLorean, Yahoo bought Zimbra back in September.

Re:Implications for open source

[dotancohen]

Actually, I'd bet that the only reason that MS is buying Yahoo is to finally get Rasmus Lerdorf working for them. You know, since they can't exactly get Linus or RMS very easily.

Re:Letter from Ballmer to Yahoo! Board

[DaveM753]

Hey, Ballmer: I can help with your goal of making "a more efficient" company. Instead of using buzzwords like "this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders", you could say something like "this is a good deal for your shareholders."

Eliminating unnecessary, extraneous keystrokes on a corporate scale represents a compelling efficiency realization event for your shareholders.

So there. :P

Re:The only thing that matters: EMAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

A good portion of the value of Yahoo! to Microsoft is in their customers. I am pretty sure that they will make all efforts to keep the customers. Throwing away Yahoo! customer's data sounds like the last thing they have in mind. They might be greedy but they're not stupid.

Re:Very odd

[dintech]

Google has always been a spammer heaven for me too

Everyone knows spammers don't go to heaven.

I for one...

[Zarf]

I for one... welcome our new yodeling software overlords.

Hmmm.....

[8127972]

In this story:

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/299523 [thestar.com]

Ballmer makes this comment:

" Signalling Microsoft doesn't intend to take no for an answer, Ballmer wrote that the company "reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo's shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.""

My question is how many chairs does that involve?

Re:Letter from Ballmer to Yahoo! Board

[RevWaldo]

You left out the post-it note on the letter - "Jeffry, Roy - We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Remember - I know where you all live."

Re:Very odd

[somersault]

Of cros they do! Evey night heavn with the ladeis you can have too if you purchaise soft Cililiaolois!!! Only 49c a pill!

Re:Fate of Flickr?

[MrNemesis]

Are you kidding? A Silverlight-only, ActiveX-only-upload Flickr would absolutely *rock*! I can't think of a better way to gain marketshare.

Omens bad, they are

[Wylfing]

When you scramble up the letters in Microsoft and Yahoo it spells Hot Roomy Fiasco. That can't be good.

Wait, it can also spell Ciao, Frosty Homo. That's not so good either.

Re:Very odd

[MrNemesis]

M$ fails in the add market

You've used Excel too?

slashdot runs on MS Vista

[hostyle]

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Flickr deletes anti-Microsoft threads

[quinnanya]

As of a half hour ago, there were multiple anti-Microsoft threads in the help forum and elsewhere. Now they're nowhere to be found...

Re:Fate of Flickr?

[JavaLord]

Are you kidding? A Silverlight-only, ActiveX-only-upload Flickr would absolutely *rock*! I can't think of a better way to gain marketshare.

The real key would be to make it IE 7 only. That way people would only experience Flickr with a top notch browser, thus enhancing the Flickr brand!

Re:And then there were two

[paeanblack]

Could you please explain where search isn't good enough? Google works well enough for me (and just about everyone I know). I've never really sat back and thought, "Damn, I wish there was some better search engine out there."

This is when I will be impressed...

http://pics.nerdnirvana.org/d/1406-1/myhouse_google_com.jpg [nerdnirvana.org]

Re:Fate of Flickr?

[trosenbl]

Hello.

I work at Microsoft. I am interested in your business ideas. Your ideas clearly demonstrate an in-depth understanding of our marketing and branding focus.

Please swing by Microsoft HQ anytime next week and we will chat.

Re:Pot, kettle, very black.

[vhogemann]

When you're talking about the Microsft's evil twin from the mirror universe... See, an $ is just a S with a goatee.

The only problem is that M$ actually makes money on OpenSource software and services, and it's founder is a bald and well shaved Robert Stalman, AKA M$ Bob. ;-)

Re:Very odd

[HardCase]

Microsoft is smart. They did not get where they are by being idiots.

Yes, and the same can be accurately said for Dick Cheney.

There has to be a corollary to Godwin's Law here...

Re:I'm confused...

[MooseTick]

"The Sony rootkit debacle began in October 2005. The PS3 was released in November 2006. How, exactly, did these two events coincide?"

On a scale spanning all of time, 13 months is but a whisper.

Re:Pot, kettle, very black.

[webweave]

...or you can call them Micro Soft as they used to call themselves. ...or you can use the Chinese symbols for tiny and flaccid as they used to use in China.

Just don't call them an innovator.

Re:Very odd

[mysticgoat]

M$ fails in the add market

You've used Excel too?

This seems to be a feature of Excel 2007.

I'm required to introduce someone who is going to present a miniworkshop on using Office-07 (pronounced "Oh fuss ought seven") at our staff meeting later this month. So I thought I'd check on whether the 65535 bug had been fixed yet, using one of the Vista workstations with Office-07 on it.

The answer is: paying out 850 monthly stipends of $77.10 each will cost us, not $65,535.00 like it would have with Excel 2003, and not $100,000.00 like it used to with Excel 2007 a few short weeks ago, but now the incredibly low cost of $0.00. In fact, payouts between $77.00 and $77.90 would all cost us exactly nothing.

And the above zero-sum game is stable for perhaps 15 minutes before all those answers change to something else.

We will be recommending to all our staff that they continue to use Excel 2003 until we tell them that Excel 2007 is working correctly.

Re:Very odd

[paving-slab]

Face it, 'M$' is immature and puerile and frankly, stupid.

I agree, they are.