Browse by Tags

• Yahoo's dark day

  Posted Jun 13 2008, 09:41 AM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Kim Peterson
  Rating:

  

  Any way you look at it, yesterday was a dark day for Yahoo. The stock crumbled 10% after the company confirmed a Microsoft deal was dead. Three key Yahoos announced they were leaving, adding to the ongoing employee exodus. Yahoo announced an advertising sales deal with Google, but it wasn't significant enough to sway angry shareholders. The company's stock isn't faring any better today -- down 6% on heavy volume to $22.14 at 11 a.m. PST. 
  

  We won't see the full implications of Yahoo's moves for a while. Clearly, Yahoo needed breathing room, and outsourcing some search business to Google accomplishes that. Yahoo gets Microsoft and Carl Icahn off its back and can figure out a new strategy -- and it gets a new source of short-term revenue. But Yahoo has let Google in the front door, and now risks the possibility   Read More...

  Discuss ( 6 comments) 5,142 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Yahoo shares plummet on dead merger talks

  Posted Jun 12 2008, 01:04 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Kim Peterson
  Rating:

  Some of that stampeding sound on the Street today came from Yahoo investors running for the exits. Shares of the company are down 11% on huge volume to $23.37 after the company said all merger talks with Microsoft are dead. Microsoft had zero interest in renewing any talks, according to a Yahoo statement. Microsoft shares are up 4% today to $28.29.

  Yahoo and Google are reportedly set to announce some sort of partnership this afternoon. Stay tuned.

  Update: Yahoo hired Google in a nonexclusive deal to sell some online ads in the U.S. and Canada.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 11 comments) 13,491 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Yahoo's week of drama

  Posted Apr 11 2008, 12:09 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Google, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, Kim Peterson
  Rating:

  

  My, how things can change in a week. Last Friday, Microsoft was putting the screws to Yahoo, telling Reuters it was "evaluating" its $31-a-share bid for the company because Yahoo has dropped in value. 

  This week, a furious round of wheeling and dealing has given Yahoo the edge. I have to hand it to CEO Jerry Yang. His flirtation with AOL and Google is putting incredible pressure on Microsoft to raise its offer. The market seems to like where all this is headed: Yahoo shares are up slightly from where they started the week and closed today at $28.34.

  The Street seems to think a Microsoft acquisition is still the most likely scenario, and Yahoo shares are up because of a general belief that Yang can extract more money out of the deal. And while things today may appear murkier than ever, this corporate drama seems to be careening (wildly, perhaps) to some sort of closure, possibly in the next week.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 3 comments) 1,680 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Yahoo and Microsoft start to talk

  Posted Mar 14 2008, 12:23 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Kim Peterson
  Rating:

  

  Yahoo seems to be dropping its anyone-but-Microsoft merger attitude. Senior executives from both companies met on Monday to discuss Microsoft's cash-and-stock acquisition offer, although "discuss" might be too strong a word, since the Yahoos "mostly listened," according to the WSJ.

  Yahoo had a duty to shareholders to at least hear Microsoft out, now that its list of possible alternatives is down to pretty much zero. AOL is busy with its $850 million acquisition of social networking site Bebo. Rupert Murdoch says News Corp. is staying out. Google lost its initial enthusiasm about thwarting the bid.

  It's unclear how serious the meeting was. No bankers attended and no negotiation took place. We don't even know if the CEOs were there. But the official silence has been broken. Yahoo shares fell nearly 3% today to $26.71 on the news, and Microsoft shares are down nearly 2.3% to $27.96.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 9 comments) 11,584 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this