Yahoo Microsoft merger

Yang groveling to Ballmer: no one is surprised

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:42:31 -0500

It must be tremendously satisfying to Steve Ballmer to hear Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang publicly plea for Microsoft to buy Yahoo -- at a bargain basement price. The only one that can be surprised at Yahoo's downward spiral since it pushed Microsoft away can be Yang. The now-failed deal with Google was never the kind of shoo-in that would have seriously revived Yahoo anyway. Google has already won the market.

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Yahoo investor urgest Microsoft to Yahoo

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:11:14 -0400

Yahoo investor Mithras Capital LP has proposed that Yahoo sell itself to Microsoft for $22 a share. While that price is far lower than the $33 a share Microsoft had at one time offered for Yahoo, it does represent a premium over the $12.66 a share that was Yahoo's price as of close of trading Thursday. Microsoft has said it is no longer interested in Yahoo but investors continue to hold out hope that Microsoft will change its mind.

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Carl Icahn lands a seat on the Yahoo board and the story ends

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:53:48 -0400

Yahoo will remain an independent company but Carl Icahn will be helping to lead it. The story of the failed sale of Yahoo to Microsoft is officially over, it seems. The enterprise is best served by having multiple strong cloud contenders in the market place building out services and competing for business ... Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. While Microsoft would have benefited from owning Yahoo, the company just posted $60 billion in revenue and can afford to carry a weak online advertising business for a while.

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Microsoft, from Yahoo to AOL?

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:34:05 -0400

So now Microsoft is reportedly in buyout talks with AOL. Its original offer for Yahoo made sense at the time, but it is curious that Microsoft is so interested in '90s era Internet companies. A Microsoft/AOL combo would hardly be a threat to Google. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Fark ... these are the types of Internet companies that Microsoft should invest in. And rather than owning and dominating, how about investing and collaboration? That's the key to the Internet today. What would Microsoft even get with AOL? Seems as if it would be an insignificant user/ad base and maybe even a lot of aging infrastructure.

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The latest squabbling over Microhoo

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:07:14 -0400

The ongoing saga of the botched acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft is so old and overdone that even the blogosphere is tired of stating opinions on it. The Yahoo brain trust has fled. Yahoo shareholders must simply be planning on writing off the stock, unless a miracle happens. But for those of us who like the exciting back-and-forth of the epic tennis match, and who are suffering some post-Wimbledon depression (a nearly five hour men's final!), we bring you the latest go-round between Yahoo, Microsoft and Carl Icahn from the weekend.

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Of course Microsoft would buy Yahoo if a new board was elected

Microsoft Subnet — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:20:08 -0400

If billionaire Carl Ichan has his way, the new board of Yahoo would be put together expressly to sell Yahoo to Microsoft at a price that is both good for the shareholders and fair to Microsoft. For all that Microsoft has said it doesn't want Yahoo anymore, this is a circumstance that would work. Now that every armchair analyst, blogger and Wall Street pro has analyzed this deal from every angle, most would agree that if Yahoo came under Microsoft's wing, this would be good for both companies, and perhaps good for Internet advertising as a whole, giving Google some genuine competition. Is it good for Yahoo employees? Probably a better option than watching the company's leadership drive the company out of business while reaching for pie-in-the-sky revenue growth.

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Yahoo and Microsoft, the never-ending non-deal

Microsoft Subnet — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:01:25 -0400

At this point, how much of an impact will a combined Microsoft/Yahoo even have on the overall software market? Yahoo has been losing talent in a mass exodus. It would simply be a matter of Microsoft taking out a competitor. But we'll wait and see. Continuous news reports based on unnamed sources claiming the two remain in talks will continue, at least until Yahoo's board has been kicked out, or has won its proxy fight. Is anyone even rooting for Yahoo anymore?

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Another Yahoo shareholder begs Microsoft to come back to the table

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:40:36 -0400

Now yet another Yahoo shareholder, this time Mithras Capital, is involved in Microsoft/Yahoo deal making. Capital is asking for an offer by Microsoft to buy Yahoo's search business to go straight to shareholders, according to dozens of news reports. Capital sent a letter to Steve Ballmer, that stated if Ballmer brings his deal to the Yahoo shareholders, shows the shareholders how a deal with Microsoft is better than one with Google, the shareholders will line up with Carl Icahn to oust the current board. Mithras Capital owns 1.7 million share of Yahoo.

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Tidbits of insight into Microsoft - Yahoo failed merger

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:20:11 -0400

This afternoon, news reports are full of tidbits that shed ever more light on the failed Microsoft/Yahoo union. The story won't be over until August 1 (or beyond), when Carl Icahn is supposed to make his hostile takeover bid. Nevertheless here are some facts from around the Web for those of you following the drama.

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Yahoo-Microsoft deal dead, again, but Yahoo-Google deal in the works

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:16:14 -0400

UPDATE: Yahoo and Google announced an extended partnership, which helped stem the nose dive that was Yahoo's stock today. The AP reports that the deal, if it pass what's likely to be a rigorous review by U.S. antitrust regulators and lawmakers, really shapes up to be a win for primarily for Google. Google doesn't have to fend off a new, merged major competitor in Microhoo and it gets its hooks into Yahoo's search business.

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Yahoo-Microsoft merger, can Icahn force it?

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:51:08 -0400

It is good for Yahoo's shareholders that Carl Icahn has stepped in to try to represent their interests. Icahn wants the Yahoo board to simply announce that Yahoo is for sale (and for a nice, tidy $49.5 billion, too). But would this even work? Why should Microsoft buy the company at this point -- especially at a premium price? Microsoft would tick off its own shareholders with a move like that, especially now that it is moving toward simply getting an interest of some sort in Yahoo's online ad sales -- the only thing Microsoft really wants.

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Ballmer predicts the death of print media, hints Yahoo bid may not be over

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:04:51 -0400

In a Q&A session with the Washington Post, Ballmer talked plainly about Microsoft's bid for Yahoo. While he certainly didn't say Microsoft was interested in purchasing Yahoo outright again, he confirmed that with Carl Icahn in the picture, Microsoft remains interested, at the least in picking Yahoo's bones. The story says:

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Yahoo can deny all it wants

Microsoft Subnet — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:40:56 -0400

Billionaire Carl Icahn doesn't lose these kinds of fights very often. While Yahoo's board denies that it adopted a poison pill strategy, it seems unlikely that Icahn will have much trouble convincing fellow shareholders that the board was looking after their interests by pushing away Microsoft. But, if Icahn's board takes over, will Microsoft come back with another offer for Yahoo?

Yahoo board member leaves, annual meeting postponed, Ballmer cool on Yahoo

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:49:19 -0400

Yahoo had 10 board members. Longtime Yahoo board member and former Cisco CTO Ed Kozel resigned, and then there were nine. Kozel had been on the Yahoo board since 2000, reports a story on Forbes.com. A regulatory filing about Kozel's resignation noted that his departure was originally scheduled for February, but he agreed to stay on through the first round of negotiations with Microsoft.

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Google's reponse to Yahoo/Microsoft: a job for Jerry Yang at Google

Microsoft Subnet — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:55:54 -0400

Google executives reportedly met last night to come up with a strategy, and public response, to the newly revived Yahoo/Microsoft deal (whatever form it might take). So says a story in the TimesOnline UK . The story reports that Google founder Sergey Brin said a lot of amazing things regarding a proposed new relationship with Yahoo.

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Microsoft says Yahoo deal could be back on

Microsoft Subnet — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:58:26 -0400

As if the situation with Microsoft/Yahoo and Carl Icahn could get any weirder ... Microsoft said on Sunday that it is considering a new deal with Yahoo. The terms may involve buying only a part of the company rather than acquiring it in full. "Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo," Microsoft said in a brief statement.

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Will Microsoft come back if Icahn wins?

Microsoft Subnet — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:57:46 -0400

Is Icahn really undertaking this hostile takeover to turn Yahoo over to Microsoft? Or will he demand something else for shareholders? Still, in all of the back and forth, Icahn is the only one that has taken action to look out for the interests of Yahoo shareholders (except, perhaps, Microsoft, which offered them a premium price.) READ MORE.

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Will an investor force Yahoo/Microsoft together?

Microsoft Subnet — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:50:09 -0400

UPDATED 5/16: Yahoo's board has responded to Icahn's open letter. Nothing earthshattering in the response. They say that Icahn's statements indicate that he doesn't understand the facts in Yahoo's negotiation with Microsoft. They say that Yahoo's board knows best. They say -- oh, and by the way, there doesn't happen to be an offer from Microsoft on the table anymore. Will Microsoft come back if Icahn wins? What are the odds that Yahoo's shareholders will vote to keep the current board?

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Yahoo shareholders react (let the lawsuits begin!)

Microsoft Subnet — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:39:28 -0400

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang may be relieved that the company he founded didn't wind up in the hands of Microsoft -- its polar opposite in corporate culture. But Yang can't expect all of the stock holders to be happy. And indeed, some of them are making their misery immediately apparent. True, lots of folks out there are rooting for the underdog, Yahoo, and pointing to Yahoo's amazing strides in social networking. The fact is, it is a publicly traded company that makes its money on advertising revenue. And most of the market is going to Google, who, by the way, also knows a thing or too about the power of social networking.

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Microsoft walks from Yahoo bid

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:26:39 -0400

This isn't surprising. Steve Ballmer announced over the weekend that Microsoft would not be pursuing a hostile takeover of Yahoo and that the two companies could not agree on a price that made sense for Microsoft. This story recaps how Yahoo jumped into hyperdrive in its efforts to regain its former luster and generate new opportunities for itself.

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