Microsoft Just Can't Quit Yahoo

itwbennett writes "Back in October, rumors surfaced (and then quickly subsided) that Microsoft was considering another bid to purchase Yahoo. Now the rumors are back, and this time Microsoft is said to be in talks with other prospective buyers about some kind of partnership to acquire the troubled Internet company."

Yahoo has value, just not all that much

[Animats]

Yahoo does have some value to Microsoft. Its news, weather, and finance services are widely used. Users of those services overlap with Microsoft's customer base, and are good advertising targets for the things Microsoft sells.

Re:APPLE should buy them

[Ethanol-fueled]

All your fancy math aside, I can state simply that Apple would not acquire Yahoo because that would cheapen their brand. The layperson assumes that everything Apple makes is totally proprietary, top-notch, justifying a higher price. Apple's purchase of Yahoo would be a Frankenstein-esque grafting of some ugly diseased limb. People will lose respect for Apple because they will believe that Apple is "going plebian" and becoming uncool.

I am not an Apple fanboy and will use any chance I can to ridicule Apple and its users, but I'm only being straight-up here. I know the feeling personally, because I lost a lot of respect for Java (then still overseen by SUN) when they started shoehorning the Yahoo Toolbar [java.com] in with Java installs. The move was cheap, tacky, and a huge disappointment overall.

Already a done deal

[Anonymous Coward]

A co-worker of mine is leaving to join Yahoo on Monday. He was told yesterday that within three months he will be a Microsoft Employee. He is not best pleased as he is an Open Source devotee. He is talking with a lawyer today to see if he can walk out of the contract.

I talked to an Analyst yesterday and he says that MS are getting Yahoo on the cheal. Like $1B cheap. The rest of the money is coming from Microsoft's usual investment partners, Silverlake Capital and a Canadian company(forgot the name at the moment).

I think the model for this is the MS/Nokia deal. From my pals at Nokia, it seems that MS rules in everything but name. Many of the very scandinavian working practices are slated for being consigned to the history books.

Re:APPLE should buy them

[wmac1]

Those who make it the 4th high traffic website of the world: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/yahoo.com [alexa.com]

And from the same website, the highest share of traffic comes from:

mail.yahoo.com 46.68%
search.yahoo.com 23.99%
yahoo.com 23.55%
login.yahoo.com 26.03%
news.yahoo.com 14.11%
answers.yahoo.com 14.15%
finance.yahoo.com 6.40%
fantasysports.yahoo.com 1.90%
sports.yahoo.com 5.82%
cn.yahoo.com 1.74%

Re:APPLE should buy them

[unixisc]

The toolbar was one of the worst things about Yahoo!, but offering Yahoo! jewels like Finance, Flickr, Groups, Mail wouldn't cheapen Apple, as it would be just one of the peripheral things associated w/ Apple, such as Bonjour. For a merger, Apple could make it a simple merger w/ a stock swap, w/o trying to do expensive things such as merging corporate cultures and other such things. Yahoo! becoming a part of Apple won't change what iDevices look like, nor will it be a brand altering change to Apple.

Essentially, what we are talking about is a few things more than making Yahoo! the default search engine in Safari (assuming it's not going to remain Bing) or getting the Yahoo! services above made available on Apple. Apple can then make all Yahoo! members a part of its own network w/o starting any new services.

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Makes sense

[GameboyRMH]

Every time Microsoft tries to buy Yahoo and then changes it's mind, Yahoo's stock value plunges. Do this enough times and eventually they can pick up Yahoo for pocket change.