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Comments: 174 +- Technology: Yahoo Interested In a Microsoft Buyout, But Microsoft Isn't on Saturday November 08 2008, @09:12AM
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Linux Blog writes "The Google-Yahoo advertising deal has been rejected by the Department of Justice, and Google has pulled the plug on a search-ad partnership with Yahoo that would have given Yahoo major new revenue, but that raised antitrust concerns. Now, Yahoo has said the 'For Sale' sign is still on its front lawn and that Microsoft should buy the company. The internet portal's co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang made this comment despite the fact Yahoo rejected a $33 a share offer from Microsoft back in May. What a huge loss for the share holders. Microsoft was quick to respond that their buyout efforts were a thing of the past, but left the door open to a search partnership."
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Wait a sec (Score:4, Interesting)
I thought Yahoo gave MS the finger a few months ago. MS offered $33/share for Yahoo, who is now worth $14. Epic phail for Yahoo.
Re:Wait a sec (Score:5, Informative)
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Stock values (Score:3, Insightful)
Not as bad as you made it look. The MS offer involved MS stock, and if people had taken it, they would now have about $20. Still not the best decision Yahoo ever made.
Microsoft's stock is sure to go back up after the recovery comes. Does anyone honestly think Yahoo's is going to rise all that much?
No, grandparent poster was right. Epic fail. It's one thing to hold out for a better deal when several companies want to buy yours. It's another when no one else really does.
Re:Wait a sec (Score:4, Insightful)
Huh????
The offer was for each share of Yahoo you could get up half in cash and the remainder in Microsoft stock (not 1 to 1 mind you). Since the offer was dropped, MSFT went to around 22, and YHOO went to 14. MSFT at the time was trading around 28 to 30, and YHOO well, that was 33. You would have been better off with any deal...
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Re:Wait a sec (Score:5, Informative)
$14? They're at $12.20 at the time of this posting, and they hit sub-$12 in the last 24h (and have done so dozens of times).
Some respected business analysts said they're worth more like $7.50/share (WAY over inflated P/E ratio and such).
And now Google and MS don't even want of them anymore. They should get with AOL, it would make for the most epic FAIL ever (worst than the previous bubble burst, just by themselves)
Thanks god I don't have any YHOO stock!
I for one, welcome our new epic FAIL overlords.
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Re:Wait a sec (Score:4, Funny)
P/E ratio? This is the new economy, we don't even worry about having a business model, let alone ancient concepts like the P/E ratio. Yahoo has nine bazillion users, so it must be worth trillions. Not only does it have lots of users (which is all that really matters, dontcha know) it apparently even makes some money from somewhere - that must be worth an extra 2 or 3%.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
P/E ratio? This is the new economy, we don't even worry about having a business model, let alone ancient concepts like the P/E ratio. Yahoo has nine bazillion users, so it must be worth trillions. Not only does it have lots of users (which is all that really matters, dontcha know) it apparently even makes some money from somewhere - that must be worth an extra 2 or 3%.
Funny but true. Actual earnings really haven't mattered that much for the last 12-15 years because the economy has been driven by speculat
They must be doing something right (Score:3, Informative)
.
Microsoft saw a modest 2% growth in profits in its first quarter of FY2009. It held $21 billion in cash in September.
Microsoft is one of the six companies in the industrial sector with a AAA corporate credit rating from S&P - and the first industrial to make the list in ten years.
The others are Automatic Data Processing, Exxon Mobil Corporation,
Re:Wait a sec (Score:5, Funny)
This reminds me of a generic story. Boy asks girl out on a date, and she says no. Two weeks later, girl comes to boy and says yes, but the boy says that he has moved on, but might be open to a fuck-buddy only partnership.
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Re:Wait a sec (Score:5, Funny)
Look I told you that story in confidence...
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wait a sec (Score:5, Interesting)
A brilliant hand of poker played by Mr Balmer, I think.
I do wonder whether they ever would have actually bought Yahoo. There's no way they could buy them now at the price they originally offerred, thanks to the economic downturn. But if it wasn't for the downturn, I do wonder whether Microsoft would instead have done "due diligence" into the state of Yahoo the company, and then loudly and publicly walked away, claiming they didn't like what they saw, screwing Yahoo's credibility.
So without spending anything, Balmer's caused turmoil in one competitor (Yahoo), while getting the competition watchdogs interested in the power of another (Google) - and distracting them both, perhaps causing them to take their eye off the ball for a while.
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Re: Mr. Ballmer's Poker (Score:3, Interesting)
See, you're partially on to something. For all his chairs, Ballmer is *sneaky*. We're still bashing Vista as their technical offering, but MS got to where it is by some clever business deals. Way back in the day John Sculley torched Apple when MS pulled a fast one on them.
Hate to say it, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
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shareholders could've taken $30 if they wanted (Score:5, Insightful)
YHOO was trading for around $30 on the open market at the time of that offer. If shareholders wanted to sell out, they could've just sold their shares through any broker on the exchange, and gotten $30. Instead they wanted to hang on and get the extra few bucks of merger arbitrage; and they lost their bet, since the merger didn't go through.
I don't really get blaming Yahoo's board here--- anyone who wanted to sell out at that price could have, without needing Yahoo's management's permission to do so.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Offer (Score:4, Funny)
Offer $.50 per share, nothing more. Yahoo is a dead brand and a dead service.
I am *shocked* that Yahoo didn't take MS's first offer and run away, giggling.
Yahoo has no chance for any kind of meaningful partnerships now that MS and Google are no longer in the picture.
Re:Offer (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd hate to see microsoft buy yahoo just for that reason.
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***Spoiler Warning*** (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd hate to see microsoft buy yahoo just for that reason.
You'll find out at the end of Act III, that's what the play was really about.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Offer (Score:5, Interesting)
My Yahoo (new version) is more like a web based full feature RSS reader now. So people having My.Yahoo as default start page aren't all exactly AOL etc. types.
A wing of Yahoo does perfect and future ready things even replying every single user flame on their blogs. Another wing, sadly, can't understand the need of IMAP in todays World, tries "Tower" ads in Yahoo mail, doesn't allow search.yahoo.com tab customisation, doesn't tie "Yahoo Widgets" prefs to user account and doesn't make that genius "Yahoo Go!" work on high end smart phones just because of a simple resolution setting.
I got like 5-6 tabs on My Yahoo and it is my start page since Yahoo invented it (about '98).
Yahoo has a serious image problem among slashdot geeks it seems. It is up to Yahoo and the companies, consultants they should hire to figure the base of the problem. What causes it? The valid reasons of course, not "yahoo.com being lame". Yes, it is lame since it targets the average web public. Not you :)
As you mention them, AOL's image problem is beyond fix. Even their CEO says something like that. I am afraid Yahoo gets same treatment while they do everything in favour of geeks and developers recently. They should fix it before it gets to AOL point.
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Re:They don't need a new partner (Score:4, Interesting)
AOL died when dial-up died. it's been long enough that most of those users have learned how to use the web (the real one, not that AOL playpen crap).
the whole point of the internet/web is that there's no strict division between content-producers and content-consumers. and unlike TV/radio, you don't have a consolidated corporate media acting as gatekeepers of information. web users are free to find (search for) content that suit their own interests, no matter how odd or obscure those interests are. there's no censorship, and no spoon-feeding of pre-approved corporate-sponsored content. that's why indie music is on the rise, and file sharing has also boosted viewership of indie films. a "web portal" runs completely counter to that media freedom and independence--at least conventional Yahoo!-type web portals; iGoogle [google.com] is a different story since you can customize the modular layout, and anyone can create their own widget.
in any case, most ex-AOL users were pleasantly surprised by how much better the "real" internet/WWW was compared to their previously sheltered online existence using AOL. by the time broadband became standard in most households, the internet was already well established in mainstream culture, and the web had become a vital tool in the daily lives of ordinary people. so people no longer needed the digital training wheels that AOL provided. most people i know were quite glad to be rid of AOL's restrictive and overbearing services & interface.
the only people who still prefer the AOL "web experience" are the elderly who still haven't adapted to internet culture and the information age we live in. but even many 60-70 year-olds are taking to the web surprisingly well. and the rest are, well, going extinct. AOL died because they catered to a transitional market/demographic. the internet was still new and largely alien to most people, so their "well integrated," penned-in and sanitized online environment was in demand. but it's 2008 now, and if Yahoo! continues to chase a long gone 1990's market, then they'll become a technological anachronism just like AOL did.
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Microsoft will bide their time ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
didnt they recently approach yahoo just to buy the search division but were turned down (again)
This is getting embarassing for Yahoo... (Score:5, Funny)
They're like a prostitute with no clients and a huge "won't anyone buy us" sign strapped to their heads...
Don't mod this funny, I'm dead serious.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Because someone might see the word "prostitute" and think I'm trying to make a funny analogy.
Re: STD (Score:3, Funny)
SearchTechnology Disease?
Wait, what? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
The sea of FUD receded and Yahoo was left naked, rather than clothed.
In other words, their true value became clear, and they are indeed worth less than they claimed.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Microsoft was never serious about yahoo. It was a two-fold attack -- demoralize yahoo (and their shareholders) and spook google.
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Insightful)
MS was willing to pay $33 a share to keep Yahoo from aligning with Google, now that it's become patently obvious that the DoJ isn't going to allow that to happen the strategic value of Yahoo to MS has gone down significantly.
It was worth it to MS to pay $33 per share in order to still have a chance at that market. Right now, with that out of consideration the value to MS has dropped significantly.
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Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft got he DOJ to bite on the anti-trust front... of course if MS tries to by Yahoo, Google has an even better argument to not allow MS to have them... Oops. Reminds me of the Oracle-Peoplesoft takeover. Their board tried everything to prop the company up but investors left um swinging until Oracle was the only choice.
But it seems the real game was just to keep Yahoo from going to Google. Microsoft doesn't have to buy them now, just wait out for them to sink after all the stockholders are scared off. Then customers or business units can be picked off the carcass later.
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Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
This is how I've taken it (not necessarily the way it is).
Microsoft initiates a hostile takeover bid for Yahoo! disrupting employee morale as well as investor confidence (and general mucking around like Microsoft tries to do). Yahoo! wasn't really in a position to be bought, thought the cultures would clash too much, etc., and rejected the offer.
Now that the economy has tanked, and Yahoo!'s share price is less than half of what MS was offering, they decide that perhaps a buyout was really in the best intere
yahoo's hubris (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering AT&T caused me headaches with thei (Score:2)
changes give their customers Yahoo web interface, even though I don't want any advertising, I got one word to say:
Ya-fu&-hoo!
Put Yahoo on eBay (Score:2)
Yahoo should auction off its outstanding shares on eBay. I've got $5 right here.
Is this the nail in the coffin? (Score:2)
First, Yahoo kills their music store, and everyone with music tracks from them are now left with NOTHING. Now they lose their ad revenue deal w/ Google? If MS truly isn't interested any more (i.e.- their lack-of-interested isn't a bargaining chip), could this be it for Yahoo? What do they have left that's viable?
Yahoo has its head up its Yang (Score:2)
they're going the way of Pets.Com -- eventually anybody who wants a piece of them can get the right one for pennies a pound at the bankruptcy court. why pay more?
Perhaps it played out like this (Score:4, Funny)
Yahoo: Hey, wanna buy us?
Msft: Hey, remember how we tried to buy you and you repeatedly said "no" and caused us much embarrassment?
Yahoo: Well, yeah.
Msft: Good then. FUCK OFF.
Yahoo (Score:5, Funny)
Great Job DOJ! (Score:3, Interesting)
What's next - will we give Yahoo a few billion taxpayer dollars for a bailout?
Great system - government doesn't allow market to work - and then takes money to make it work (for sufficiently poor values of "work").
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Great system - government doesn't allow market to work - and then takes money to make it work (for sufficiently poor values of "work").
This is the 'modern' Republican way.
Privatize profits and socialize losses. (Corporations only of course.)
Conservatives need to take this last election and use it as fuel to go read any of John Dean's recent books on the failure of the Republican party by betraying true conservatives.
(Even Goldwater before he died screamed for the Republicans to stop going down the road that
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Taxes (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/yahoo-plays-catch-up-offshore-tax/story.aspx?guid=%7BB54D432E-20D4-47B3-B7E9-204593E9E00D%7D&dist=msr_2 [marketwatch.com]
Long Story Short: MS & Google both have offshore tax dodges setup, so they end up paying around 24% tax rates, while Yahoo pays around 40%. Yahoo wants to join the offshore tax dodgers, but the IRS recently decided to crack down on the practice.
This isn't in the article, but IIRC, Obama has already made it clear that he's going to close such loopholes in the tax code, which will translate to higher taxes on corporations and more revenue for the Treasury Dept. (let's not have the discussion on whether this is a good or bad thing for business and the country)
Here's Another Idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Layoff the rest of the people you don't need. Cut unprofitable services. Improve the quality of those services that are profitable. Maintain your R&D division. Come up with some new products.
In other words, turn yourself into a profitable, but smaller company going forward. Why, you might even consider the possibility of being around 20 years from now as an independant entity.
I mean, at this stage, why continue thinking "exit strategy" like a 2-year old startup?
I know, I know. It's an odd idea in hi tech. It seems to work pretty well for the grocer, the tailor, the baker and various other businesses though.
Oh, and especially, please, pretty please? Get rid of the obtrusive 3rd party ads. I block all that crap. If you just put a tasteful, static GIF on your pages, I wouldn't block your ads. Nevermind that though; I've paid for Yahoo services before. Their music service was good before they stopped maintaining it properly. I've never paid Google for anything. So. Yahoo, why don't you start serving customers like you once did? Why don't you place unobtrusive ads like Google does?
Whatever you do, please don't change your old-school Finance pages--your GNUPlot based charts would be irreplaceable. Don't get bought. Please.
Teenagers (Score:5, Funny)
The rich asshole kid on the block (M) wants to get the cool chick (Y), not because he likes her, but because she wants to go out with the cool kid (G), and M won't have any of that. But then the cool kid realizes Y is just a whore and dumps her. And now even the rich kid doesn't want her anymore. So everyone thinks Y is a cheap slut. In the mean time, the geeks (Sun, IBM...) don't even try going for the whore because they are busy doing their own stuff. As for the classy chick (Apple), she's single because she looks down on everybody.
The stock market sure is one crazy high school.