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Yahoo May Re-Consider Google Alliance, Rebuff Microsoft
anastasd writes "Reuters is reporting that Yahoo might consider a business alliance with Google as a way to top a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft. 'Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft's bid, that source said. At $31 a share, Yahoo believes the bid undervalues the company, two sources said. A second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing.'"
Do I like Yahoo? Not really. But I don't really like Google or MS either. The less of these online service providers there are, the worse it will be for consumers. I hope Yahoo continues to exist in some form or another just so there are more players in the marketplace. That means more choice, more competition and a better experience for users.
Google can use the 45bn in far better ways by cutting into new markets & technologies (eg. Android).
Engineering is the art of compromise.
They are just jacking up the price. The company will be sold. Once a company is in play, it is very hard to take it off the market.
Once the directors receive an offer, it is their duty to figure out whether their shareholders are better off with Yahoo alone or not. If they figure out that it is better selling (I am sure they did already), it is their obligation under current Delaware law to auction the company. That's exactly what they are doing. There isn't a single transaction that closes at the starting price.
If the directors decide that it is better going alone, it will end up with a Proxy fight and a lot of lawsuits (those will happen anyway)
Right now, arbitrageurs are going long on Yahoo and short on MS.
From the article...
"Few natural bidders exist beside Google
that could engage in a bidding war, and
Google would be unlikely to win approval
from antitrust regulators, some Wall Street
analysts said on Friday."
So, um, it's not likely to happen.
** Yawn **
It's safe to move along.
How to Download YouTube Videos
500 million users. $3.75 billion a year in profit. Market cap of $40 billion.
Sig removed because it was obnoxious
Well, they obviously don't believe the share price represents the value of the company.
... or honesty ... or something ... disturbing.
So, they could buy the stock for $12, thought it was worth more than $31, and weren't buying more?
I find their lack of faith
I'm a nature photographer.
i have a sneaking suspicion there is another smaller .com bubble forming. especially when yahoo start talking about being under valued at 44 billion.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Google + Yahoo! wouldn't fly with the antitrust regulators.
And they would automatically let Yahoo! + MS through?
They're #3, but like Google, they came by that position honestly (MSN got to its slot by 'dint of default'). It may be anecdotal, but Yahoo has a lot of income that comes in from places that you and I may find unlikely. They also have a rather solid set of services that 1) doesn't require Windows or a Passport Account, and 2) is relatively uncluttered and straightforward when compared to MSN. When it comes to non-search functions, Yahoo is actually IMHO better than Google in a lot of areas, simply because those areas don't have that 'beta' feel to it that Google sometimes does, or that 'we require possession of your soul before installing this' feel that the MSN does (e.g. messenger services*).
While I pretty much use Google for most of my stuff nowadays, There is still Yahoo Finance, among a bucket of little things that make it useful to me.
This is just anecdotal, but I know I'm not alone, and Yahoo does have a large and loyal following. I could see them diminish over time perhaps, but not necessarily die off.
* I use Pidgin everywhere now, but long ago, my Mac wound up with MSN and Yahoo Messenger on it due to social and work demands... and GAIM wasn't IMHO a viable option there.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Oh you mean like this? Yah I think we've seen that one played out before and it didn't end well for the big media company. And just remember, AOL merged at its peak, Yahoo has clearly seen better days.
The sun beams down on a brand new day, No more welfare tax to pay, Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light...
MSN is the default on new computers so the only people that use it are the ones that don't know any better. On the other hand pretty much everyone who uses Yahoo does so because they chose to do so. Microsoft has too much hubris to keep Yahoo's technology, they're going to change it all to Windows and .NET and just like what happened with Hotmail it will suck in then end.
Where are those users going to go? I'd wager the vast majority of them will go straight to Google.
Google doesn't need to buy Yahoo, they're going to get the users anyway
The Anti-Blog
>>Best way to prevent this inevitable evil? Force the infrastructure to become a shared resource of multiple companies by making it economically less efficient for all of them not to inter-operate.
Fortunately, part of Google's current "sexiness" comes from them embracing various standards and open-source projects that allow them to "interoperate", whereas Microsoft famously tries to hold on to its "infrastructural lock-in" with stuff like MS Office document formats and file-system formats.
I've always wondered, what exactly does/would Google get out of doing that? I use Gmail. If Google data mined my mail, they would get nothing. I don't use email with my friends (i'm in the age bracket that doesn't use email according to that one semi-recent /. article) so all my mail is either from colleges or "click this link" forum activation mail.
In theory, the real data worth mining would be either of my parent's as both of them run their own businesses. However, what can they do with the data? Mine it so they can show targeted ad's to them for Quickbooks or Lexus-Nexus or whatever? Oh wait, they already do.
Seriously, unless your dating Larry/Sergey/Eric's Ex, why would they ever care to look through your mail?
But then its not really infringing on my privacy at all.
I become a statistic in their models and anonymous.
It happens everywhere.
I'd rather it be Google than another company.
Really?
Is that why when the US government was demanding search data, that Google was the only company willing to butt heads with the government to protect privacy, while Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft all volunteered private data?
To say that Google lacks a privacy policy is pure fiction. http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html
Next time check your facts.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I'm fairly certain that Google is:
a) Not typical
b) Not all that predictable
Rationale: How many other Google's are there? They've become a part of our LANGUAGE, that is not typical. Also - Everyone was predicting what the gPhone would be. They were wrong, it wasn't a "phone" it was a phone platform. Who predicted Google would be going after the 700MHz spectrum? Where is the Google OS?
Not typical, not predictable. Is that good? Or bad? I don't know.
Flappinbooger isn't my real name