Microsoft has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for Yahoo, a deal that shakes up the competitive and lucrative market for Internet search…
In a copy of the letter it sent to Yahoo’s board of directors, Microsoft disclosed it had explored a Microsoft-Yahoo deal a year earlier, only to be rebuffed with Yahoo telling it at that time it was confident of the “potential upside” for Yahoo from operational changes it planned.
“A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved,” the letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.
John has skewered this package deal a couple of times. What happened to either of these outfits working at their core businesses? How is an acquisition really expected to help?
These two have paid so little attention to their base – for so long – it’s laughable.
Everyone looks for alternatives to Office. And Vista only cracks Microsoft’s installed business base on new computer purchases.
Yahoo can’t even get spam-filtering right. I’ve had a Yahoo address for years and only use it when I think a site is going to spam me.
Hey what happens to us AT&T Yahoo customers? Microsoft and YAHOO already climed into bed with their IM clients being directly interoperable.
And um, AT&T was said not to be happy with YAHOO.
I’ve had a Yahoo address for years and only use it when I think a site is going to spam me.(2)
Yahsoft?
Microhoo?
Yamicrohoosoft?
Just maybe MS is justified in being paranoid about Google.
This is a terrible idea. How does this move compliment either business? It looks like a defensive move to me. Doesn’t this eat up most of MS cash reserve? MS stock is going to be stagnant for years.
Greedy M$ just sees the AD Revenue Stream and WANTS IN !!!
“n the letter to Yahoo’s board, Microsoft said a tie-up would achieve economics of scale while allowing combined research and development efforts to achieve breakthrough products, particularly in the growing areas of online video and mobile Internet connections.”
Economies of Scale = MASSIVE LAYOFFS !!!
Breakthrough Products = From M$ ? WHAT A KNEE-SLAPPER !!!
Greedy Gate$ and Balmy Ballmer just want the AD REVENUE – ALL OF IT, AND BUYING YAHOO IS JUST ONE MORE STEP TO ACHIEVE THAT GOAL !!!
It’s not surprising that MS thinks this is attractive. Both companies want to be “media” companies. It’s not about search. If it goes thru, the results will be predictably lame: a messy conglomeration of music, video, and anything else they can lard into the property. And in the end, it won’t look much different than it does now, and it won’t change things much for MS.
Thems some big bucks being offered. Iffen I owned some of that there Yahoo stock, I would be yelling YAHOOOOOOO, and be a screaming HELL YA !!!
On a realistic level, I don’t see any good coming from this and the FTC should stop it.
It’s interesting this story is adjacent to a story about cameras tracking and recording people’s movements and it’s also interesting no-one is concerned about the insight Yahoo searches will give Micro$oft into a lot of people’s lives and interests.
Micro$oft already knows a lot about their ‘customers’ and they’re continually striving to know more.
That’s where there’s money to be made. Ad revenue, including at Google, is like an iceberg. You can only see the tiny part sticking out above the waterline.
Hasn’t anyone ever wondered why a huge corporation like Google would have a motto like ‘Do No Evil’?
No matter what any corporation ever says publicly, it will always profit people to automatically assume the opposite is true.
Don’t let the butterfly crap on you yahoo. I actually use all of yahoo’s services. And believe it or not I like it.
Could this come from a news special I saw literally 2-3 days ago saying that yahoo might be dieing a slow death? Is Microshaft starting their internet presence by the same way they started their XBox presence; buy off small companies and release it as their own?
I think that a comment on Digg said it very nicely: “Then again, it does combine the two companies into one massive corporate colossus of FAIL!”
Both companies lack focus. Microsoft tries to be verywhere and fails in all but a few core businesses. Yahoo seems to not know exactly what they are, only the their doing something on the interweb.
Regardless of of their intentions, nothing good will come of Microsoft buying Yahoo. I think that they see Yahoo as a quick solution to “build a strong online profile”, but this is’t going to happen because, regardless of their offerings Yahoo is lacking a business case for most of their products and they’ll continue to be in Googles shadow. In six month, maybe a year, Microsoft will pretty much forget that they bought Yahoo and it’s live it’s own little life, sort of like Hotmail.
In some sense I think that Microsoft is a little kid, looking for a new toy, but after a short while the toy is no longer new or interesting.
Yahoo had sold it sole to the devil and let Google take the market share a long time ago. This is a natural progression for a soulless entity to be body-snatched by the grim reaper. Toodle-oo Yahoo ye wont be missed. I for one welcome the new MicroSpyware on Vista II.
Microsoft == Britney.
Now, sit down with some pop corn and watch the train wreck.
Does anyone think Google might say “eff you” and put in a counteroffer? I don’t think so personally, though that could be interesting.
The market seems to thing it is a good deal for Yahoo and not so much for MS and Google.
Yahoo
28.57 +9.39 (48.97%) Feb 1 9:56am ET
MS
31.16 -1.44 (-4.42%) Feb 1 9:58am ET
Google
519.52 -44.78 (-7.94%) Feb 1 9:59am ET
I am concerned about what may happen to yahoo owned services such as Flickr and del.icio.us Won’t Microsoft make them less convenient and easy to use. Their track record with their own services isn’t good.
I feel a great disturbance in the force…
Time to close my Flickr account before my family vacation photos start turning up unexpectedly on Expedia ads.
And yet, it just doesn’t matter. We’re in an Apple and Google world kids, everyone else watches and follows.
This may make the top ten stories of the year, but won’t be number one.
I think this deal is gonna yield a powerhouse combined entity on par with Unisys (Remember? “The Power of 2”?) I don’t see the synergies, and this is an awful large price to pay for a (lame) defensive move. Microsoft should take a small fraction of that money and put it in the hands of a sharp cutting-edge VC unit that could seed and profit from the next big things.
Here, you’re paying for a mature company that, as far as I can see, doesn’t offer all that many synergies.
Probably not as dumb as AOL-Time Warner, but hardly smart.
Yahoo will be ruined if it becomes like Microsoft.
But if Microsoft starts being more like Yahoo, it would be a good thing.
Google must be loving this. (Sarcasm not intended.)
“How is an acquisition really expected to help?”
It won’t, but absorbing the competition is what M$ does best
In a brief discussion away from the site, KB made a cogent point [I think]: one sort of site that Yahoo failed with was an auction site – something that I think MSoft might get right.
Given the turmoil currently afflicting eBay, it might be a competitive opportunity.
#2 – AT&T is never happy with any partner…
#15 – Interesting concept – if nothing else to drive up the bid.
BTW, what is Yahoo’s core business supposed to be? Really thought it was to be everything on the web. Yes, yes I know it was search and then a portal. They were supposed to stay in that box?
Is this Ballmer taking one for the team? After Gates leaves, Ballmer buys Yahoo, a move that over the following two years, tanks Microsoft share value. And like John says, Gates returns to save the company ala’ Jobs.
Damn, I just read John’s newest Market Watch column, and as usual, he’s way ahead of me.