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Microsoft and News Corp in Yahoo Bid Talks

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-will-be-assimilated dept.

KingAlanI writes "The New York Times website is reporting that Microsoft is trying another angle in its bid for Yahoo: joining up with another behemoth, Murdoch's News Corporation. This is still very much in the preliminary stage, if anything, but an important development to consider. The idea of Yahoo working with fellow Web giant Google, in a plan to counteract Microsoft's takeover plan, is also discussed."

11 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Brilliant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course! We need more EVIL! Get Murdoch on board....

  2. Better link by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a better link because it's reg-free.

    The wrinkly photo of Murdoch (complete with disembodied hand) is just icing on the cake.

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    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  3. Time-Warner Is Also Making A Play by blcamp · · Score: 5, Informative


    Don't count out another media player:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0929033920080410?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

    Hard to know whether this is going to turn into a bidding war, but no matter what happens, Yahoo's days as an independant 'net player on the big stage are numbered.

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
  4. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If Microsoft is trying to convince anyone that its hostile takeover of Yahoo isn't evil, it's going in exactly the wrong direction.

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    make install -not war

  5. Pot, this is Kettle by Ngarrang · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From the article...
    "Microsoft immediately blasted the idea of a search advertising partnership between Yahoo and Google, saying it would be anticompetitive. âoeAny definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search advertising market in Googleâ(TM)s hands,â Microsoft said in a statement."

    For some reason, this cry for justice rings empty. Does Microsoft honestly think THEY can make such complaints given their own gregarious behavior?

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    Bearded Dragon
  6. Re:Is this a poison pill strategy? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's been a long time since I had a business class. Isn't this what is called the poison pill? Either buying up things that make the company a poor purchase decision, or entering into contracts that do the same thing etc? No, I don't think so. I think Yahoo believes that a deal with Google might be more lucrative than its current course of action, which is to do all advertising in-house.

    All in all, the goal seems to be to strengthen Yahoo in order to push up the stock price to avoid a hostile takeover. The poison pill approach is to make the company look so bad that nobody would want to buy it. I don't think that's what Yahoo's trying to do at all.

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    My blog
  7. Could've been funnier by faloi · · Score: 4, Funny

    It could've said "Microsoft and Newscorp have banded together to make the proper sacrifices to Cthulhu to ensure their bid for Yahoo! is accepted." At least then the circle of evil would be complete.

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    "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
  8. Re:I have a feeling.. by mfh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    MSFT wouldn't enter the deal if it would hurt them.

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    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  9. Yahoo's Google test means MS was right by pcause · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The recent announcement about Yahoo testing Adsense for search result advertising just proves that MS is right and that Yahoo is not a viable standalone entity. We need strong and serious competition for Google because the last thing the world needs is a monopoly on the source of revenue for ad properties. Yahoo has now admitted defeat and MS is willing to put up the challenge. Throw in Fox and we could have a real competitor for Google.

    Of course, combining 3 "also rans"doesn't mean we get a winner, just that we'll at least likely have a fight!

  10. AOL Bailout by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the article:

    Yahoo, which wants to remain independent, has been in a desperate search for white knights, holding conversations with Time Warnerâ(TM)s AOL and News Corporation.
    A Yahoo-AOL merger would make for one mediocre company. I don't think that will scare off giants like Microsoft and Google. In the end we will be left with just two companies, unless the SEC says otherwise.
    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  11. Re:MSFT, Hotmail and Yahoo by GauteL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Here are up-to-date numbers for a single country, Turkey:"

    Those statistics being "single country" also makes them less valid on the world scale.

    I thought I smelled a fish when your statistics seemed to indicate that 1/3 of all Turks are "MSN users". This also means that if this and this is correct, there are more MSN users than Internet users in Turkey. So let us just assume that EVERY single Internet user in Turkey is also an MSN user.

    Could this possibly be representative for the world?

    The answer is pretty obviously "no".
    If all your statistics are correct, Turkey accounts for approximately 8.3 % of the MSN users in the world, but less than 1.3% of the worlds internet users (based on 1.32 billion Internet users from here).

    Either your numbers are completely wrong, or MSN is over 6 times as popular in Turkey as the average for Internet users. Either way, they are completely useless as proof of total MSN usage in the world.