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Posted
Dec 10 2007, 03:46 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Boeing shut down its ambitious onboard WiFi project last year, saying that after six years of work it couldn't find enough airlines who would offer the service to its customers. The service, called Connexion, provided e-mail, Web and TV during flights, with costs that ranged from $15 for less than three hours to $30 for a full day. It was mainly offered on non-U.S. airlines, and people who used it raved. But analysts said the service, which cost $150 million a year to run, was only used by 1,000 people a day across 125 commercial planes.
Boeing was too hasty in killing Connexion. U.S. airlines are slowly embracing free WiFi service, hoping to lure customers who want to send e-mails and instant messages from 30,000 feet. JetBlue is launching its WiFi trial tomorrow on just one plane, becoming the first U.S. carrier to do so. American, Virgin and Alaska plan to roll out service next year.
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Posted
Aug 12 2009, 03:54 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Twitter had another hacker attack yesterday. Several media outlets reported the micro-blogging system was down periodically though the early morning and afternoon. The service had more severe problems last week. There have been rumors that the target of the attacks is a blogger in Georgia who has been critical of neighboring state Russia.
It is difficult to see what advantage the Russians gain by upsetting the tens of millions of people outside Georgia by shutting Twitter down, many of whom may actually think well of Mr. Putin and his fellow comrades.
The Twitter outage introduces the concept of whether anyone would really miss the service if it went away. Financial experts have argued that Twitter is not worth much even with its 30 million or so unique visitors, a number that varies wildly depending on the source. The press has carried stories over the last few months reporting that the service is growing 1,400%, 500%, and, in some cases, is barely growing at all. Ars Technica recently reviewed Twitter research done by HubSpot. The tech website reported that “HubSpot’s analysis of Twitter’s 4.5 million accounts revealed that 54.9% of users have never tweeted and 52.7% have no followers whatsoever.” Put more simply, many of the people who sign up for Twitter accounts never use them.
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Posted
Jun 30 2009, 03:49 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Facebook is becoming one of the most dangerous places on the Internet. According to Reuters, “scammers break into accounts posing as friends of users, sending spam that directs them to Web sites that steal personal information and spread viruses.”
Since Facebook has, by some measures, more than 200 million members, the problem is extremely serious and could undermine the growth of the social network and cut into the time that current members spend on the site.
The cybercrime issue could also damage Facebook’s reputation with marketers, a reputation is just beginning to build in the hope of increasing its modest revenue by bringing in large national advertisers. Industry sources suppose that Facebook will lose a modest sum of money on $500 million of revenue this year, a tiny sum compared to the size of its audience.
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Posted
Feb 12 2008, 06:53 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Firestone. American Motors. Texaco. Pan Am. Worldcom. These large American companies were once at the top of their industries. Pan Am was the leading global airline for decades. All are gone: Some were sold off, others went bankrupt. Who could have predicted it?
There are several iconic U.S. companies that may well not exist at the end of 2008. Some may not even make it halfway through the year. Not all will go out of business. Some may simply be auctioned off in pieces. Others may be bought. These companies will not exist in their current forms as they are known to their shareholders and consumers now.
When a company ceases to exist as an independent entity, it is not necessarily bad for shareholders. Some may be worth more in parts. Often a bust-up or merger is what brings owners the most money. Here are the big ones that probably won't make it. (A more detailed assessment is available at 24/7 Wall St.)
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Posted
Nov 19 2008, 09:54 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Yahoo shares plummeted 17% Wednesday on word that Microsoft is no longer interested in buying the company. After Jerry Yang said this week he would step down from Yahoo's top spot, investors jumped on the stock in hopes that a major roadblock to a Microsoft acquisition had been removed.
Now, it seems like the real roadblock is Microsoft itself. CEO Steve Ballmer says he's simply no longer interested in buying the company. And he said it as clearly and as forcefully as one could imagine.
"We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo," he said at Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting. "I've said that a bunch of times. Somehow some people have gotten confused nonetheless."
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Posted
Jun 20 2008, 10:24 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Nearly every day this week has brought news of another executive jumping ship at Yahoo. Today add one more to the list: Joshua Schachter, the founder of a bookmarking service called delicious that Yahoo acquired in 2005. TechCrunch interviewed Schachter and found he was frustrated with the slow development of a new version of delicious at the company.
Other departures this week include the co-founders of the Flickr photo service, a senior vice president and two executive vice presidents. (TechCrunch is keeping a list of executive resignations). Each of these departures is a blow, but taken as a whole they signal something far more serious. The people running the show are panicking.
These are the guys on the inside, the ones who know exactly where Yahoo is right now and where it's headed.They've sat in on the strategy sessions, the PowerPoint presentations and the planning meetings. They are the insiders. And they don't like what they see.
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Posted
Dec 19 2007, 03:52 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This year has been a disaster for some tech companies. Oh sure, it's been a fabulous ride for Apple, Amazon and Google.
But this post is about the losingest losers out there. The train wrecks. The Lindsay Lohans of technology. Here are the companies, and their "oops" moments, that made 2007 memorable:
Yahoo
Share performance: Down 30% since the end of October.
Oops moment: Launching a public soul-searching in the form of a 100-day self-examination to craft a strategic plan.
What happened: The 100 days ended with no big announcements. Yahoo is too large and too laden by its own bureaucracy to be nimble. What's more, the company lost valuable search market share to Google this year.
Chance of recovery in 2008: Moderate. Yahoo is overhauling some core services, including e-mail and photo, but has been unable to monetize a user base that numbers some 475 million. Lots more work to do.
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Posted
Feb 12 2008, 12:39 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Citigroup's Mark Mahaney has revised his what-will-happen analysis for Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo. The Vegas oddsmakers should get in on this! Here's Mahaney's latest, with my thoughts included:
Outcome #1: Microsoft ups its bid and Yahoo accepts. Probability = 55%
I'd put the odds a little higher than that. Maybe 65% with the noise coming from Yahoo shareholders lately. A fund manager from Legg Mason, the second-biggest Yahoo shareholder, said in a letter this week that "it will be hard for YHOO to come up with alternatives that deliver more value than MSFT will ultimately be willing to pay." Analyst Marianne Wolk of Susquehanna gives this scenario a 75% probability.
Outcome #2: Another bidder gets Yahoo. Probability = 5%
Chances are slim. The big potential bidders have backed out, and Google can't bid because of antitrust concerns. There is a rumor that private equity was looking at buying Yahoo for $23-$25 a share before Microsoft jumped in. That price is long gone now.
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Posted
Jan 29 2008, 01:31 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Tech's favorite punching bag is taking another beatdown today with declining earnings and disappointing guidance. And that means it's time to buy. Yep, I'm talking about Yahoo, whose shares came dangerously close to a 52-week low in late trading after reporting that Q4 profit dropped to 15 cents a share from 19 cents a year earlier. And while that's bad, at least it was better than the paltry 11 cents a share analysts were expecting. Yahoo sales were solid, with revenue rising 8% to 1.8 billion. Taking out shared-partner ad sales, its revenue was $1.4 billion, which is what analysts expected.
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Posted
Feb 13 2008, 05:04 PM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
In the wake of Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's $31-a-share, or $44.6 billion, takeover offer, there's been much speculation about what price Yahoo might accept from Microsoft. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)
The figure of $40 a share was mentioned in several news reports last weekend. An Associated Press report cited a source close to Yahoo who said that Microsoft had offered $40 in February 2007.
Bill Miller, the manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust mutual fund, mentioned it in his quarterly letter to the fund's shareholders, released on Tuesday: "It has been reported that MSFT has been discussing a combination with YHOO for well over a year, and that it had been prepared to pay over $40 per share previously."
Legg Mason is Yahoo's second-largest shareholder, and Miller believes Microsoft should boost its bid.
So, at what point does a company have an obligation to report an offer and a dollar figure to its shareholders? And, more important, were Yahoo's shareholders poorly served by the decision not to disclose Microsoft's offer?
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