Jeber Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Microsoft has unveiled an audacious $44.6bn offer to buy search engine giant Yahoo! and take on Google in what would be the technology industry's largest ever takeover.The software giant said its offer valued Yahoo! at $31 per share, representing a 62pc premium to Yahoo!'s closing price on Wall Street last night.Shares in Yahoo!, which had declined 18pc this year before today, soared 51pc to $28.90 in early trading. Microsoft shares slipped $1.30 to $31.30.Yahoo has said it will examine Microsoft's proposal. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...bcnmicro701.xmlThis could become the Clash of the Titans '08, MS/Yahoo vs. Google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 My brother, who contracts for the military in IT security, sent me this story this morning.He said that DoD and other government agencies are considering and testing for going to thin clients, like say Google's. Microsoft should be shaking... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 The minute the deal is finalized ( if it is ) I'll stop using Yahoo which is my main email account and my internet portal and switch to Google. Well ok I'll check my emails for a few weeks until all my contacts have my google email address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybormoron Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 (edited) i wonder what ms will do with all of my flickr slideshows of linux or all of my linux del icio us bookmarks. hey ballmer, read thisand this Edited February 2, 2008 by cybormoron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Yup, If this goes through, I'll ditch my 9 or 10 year old yahoo address because if MS tweaks it, it will have the same weird problems that hotmail and msn live mail have.I'm also wondering where to move my Flickr pictures because MS will probably tell me I need to run XP or Vista to look at my pictures and upload others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 (edited) Hi Liz!You could try Imageshack or photobucket or picasa Edited February 2, 2008 by réjean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 What if someone tells you they - The Redmond firm that is - just started with Yahoo, and their ultimate goal would be to buy the internet? Isn't that what they are dreaming of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Yahoo may consider Google alliance, source sayshttp://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN0362915520080204 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2cm Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 What if someone tells you they - The Redmond firm that is - just started with Yahoo, and their ultimate goal would be to buy the internet? Isn't that what they are dreaming of?Google already owns the internet and is not selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 both to striker and to b2cm!and to think, i thot it was to gov'ts of the world spying on their respective citizens... :'( Guess who's at the first three places on the spy top 10 .... What if indeed google bids on yahoo and yahoo accepts it? Would that be a good thing or not so good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Word on the street is that Yahoo will turn down MS's bid. Yahoo really would be a better match with Microsoft than they would be with Google. Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL all still operate on the "portal" concept. Establish a single portal page that contains every bit of information the user could ever want (or at least try to). Google, on the other hand, concentrates more on being everywhere the user already is. AdWords on every site, ubiquitous search boxes, the option to add to a calendar or make a note in a notebook from your email interface.Two entirely different approaches to meeting the needs of the enduser. All indications are that Google has a better approach for the future of the web. In the web 2.0/3.0 future, getting in front of the user where they are will be more effective than trying to entice them to come to your site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Personally, I'd rather see Yahoo and Google compete and MS search drop.I use both Yahoo and Google. I can't remember the last time I used MS to search for something. I also don't want Yahho and Google to merge - I like both my yahoo account and Flickr and my gmail account. I wish some philanthropist would help Yahoo out, I'd hate to see them be forced to merge with anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 (edited) We should really be used to this sort of thing by now. 'Merger', 'greenmail', acquisition- whatever we want to call it- it is going forward at a record clip. When was the last time when we, the voters actually had any chance of influencing this headlong plunge into the 'ultimate merger'? Perhaps in the 1950's, when Eisenhower warned about the military/industrial complex? Nobody was paying much attention back then. It's too late now. I give the process perhaps 30 to 50 years to complete, but as I see it, there's no longer any stopping it. Oh, well, it'll be your children's and grandchildren's problem. I won't be around. I am so grateful to have lived most of my life in the later 20th century. Those were the good old days. There are hard times coming...Sometimes a company like Yahoo has no better option than to accept 'rescue' by another greedy, opportunistic company as a lesser of two evils. Failing that, they are often acquired by 'end run' maneuvers such as snapping up all the stock that is community held. That's why it's called greenmail. Same as blackmail, really, and it also involves lots of money. Yahoo may ultimately have no choice but to be acquired- by someone or other. This is the game played by the big money boys, and it is going to make almost everybody's life miserable in the coming decades. Heck, as far as I am concerned, it already has, but that's another subject...Taft-Hartley- what's that? I flatulate in the general direction of your 'Taft-Hartley'. Edited February 11, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Yahoo has officially said no. They claim the bid undervalues their stock price (?).Meanwhile, on the topic of mergers, here's a cool image/pdf that shows the major mergers by Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, IAC and AOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Yahoo is still seeking a savior. This would seem to validate my opinion that AOL, Yahoo and MS are similar in style and outlook. Yahoo! set to revive merger talks with AOL after rejecting hostile takeoverYahoo! is seeking to restart merger talks with AOL as a means of defending itself against the $45 billion (£23 billion) hostile bid approach from Microsoft, The Times has learnt.It is understood that Yahoo! and its team of advisers from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, the US investment banks, have spent the past week evaluating possible tie-ups with media and technology firms that would save it from being swallowed by Microsoft.It is also understood that one option being explored is to restart merger talks with AOL, the online business owned by Time Warner. Tie-ups with groups such as Google or Disney are also being considered. Although Yahoo! and AOL previously failed to join forces because of differences over price, it is hoped that the urgency created by an unwelcome approach from Microsoft and an impending economic downturn will spur the two into new talks. Google, which offered support to Yahoo! when the Microsoft approach was made public, also has a 5 per cent stake in AOL.Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!, will today tell Wall Street that his board has rejected the software giant’s cash-and-shares proposal because it significantly undervalues the company. It is believed that the Yahoo! board will not even consider starting talks with Microsoft unless the suitor group offers at least $12 billion more, representing a share price value of more than $40. Yahoo! has suffered eight consecutive quarters of profit decline. Critically, it has also lost part of its share of the $40 billion online advertising market to Google, its dominant rival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 (edited) Very interesting posts, Jeber- thanks! From the article, the last couple of paragraphs were of greatest interest to me: Microsoft is desperate to take over Yahoo! because of the threat that Google’s dominance of the online search advertising market poses to the computer company’s future. Last year, after long discussions about a merger between the two, Yahoo! declared that it was not for sale. However, it did agree to draw up proposals about how the two could co-operate to fight Google more effectively.Yahoo! is considered by Microsoft to have reneged on its pledge and Microsoft has become increasingly frustrated in the past 12 months as Google has grown stronger and Yahoo! has lost market share and been forced to cut 1,000 jobs.This gives a greater sense of Microsoft's desperation, and could also be read and interpreted as saying that MS and Yahoo were really already 'in bed together'. These are tidal forces, these mergers. Big fish eaten by bigger fish, eaten by still bigger fish- ad nauseum. Where it all leads is not pretty. (See also: "Middle ages", "feudalism", "nobility", "serfs", "poverty", "perpetual warfare", etc.) The utmost concentration of power leads inevitably to the utmost abuse and degradation of the people (with the exception of tiny elites). Nothing new under the sun; this appears to recur regularly, on roughly a thousand year cycle.Microsoft is thought to be trying to engage Yahoo! shareholders in some form of discussion. It is also understood to be considering a proxy fight in the next month, in which it plans to oust most of the Yahoo! board and replace key executives with its own choice of management team.Here is the 'end run' I mentioned in a previous post. MS is not to be trifled with. They have eaten many 'big fish' already. But I think they will mainly get indigestion from this one. 'Not in areas of core competency', etc. Desperation indeed. Edited February 11, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 This would seem to validate my opinion that AOL, Yahoo and MS are similar in style and outlook.Not so much, TimeWarner is planning on breaking up AOL and selling it off so I don't think comparing it to MS works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I still have a feeling some day out of the blue google will bid on yahoo. And yahoo then accepts it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Cringely's take on the merger.He has a very interesting viewpoint towards the end of the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKANoyb Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Or just Micro$oft $earch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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