Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Rumors Flying On $20 Billion Microsoft Offer For Yahoo

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the wishful-thinking dept.

gadgetopia is one of many who wrote to tell us about the many rumors flying around that Microsoft may be aiming another deal at Yahoo, this time for $20 billion. The story was apparently originally broken by the UK-based site Times Online, and contained lots of details about the supposed deal. Since then, Ross Levinsohn, reported to be part of the new management team, has denied there is any truth to these rumors, leading to questions about where all of this supposed information came from. Yahoo has declined to comment officially.

7 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like pump-n-dump by dsanfte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In this climate I don't see Microsoft buying -anything- for a $20B outlay unless it were the next Google. And Yahoo isn't.

    --
    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
    1. Re:Sounds like pump-n-dump by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree, Yahoo's revenue streams have been dropping and their annual profit's have not been good. MS would have to have a compelling reason to buy Yahoo as the acquisition would probably not give them a competitive advantage over Google.

      With all this talk of Windows in the cloud, and seeing what Microsoft have just done by adding Netflix to the Xbox 360, it appears like they are looking seriously to selling appliances/subscription services. If they could convert even a fraction of their OEM market into hosted services, it could be as lucrative as their Office and Server licensing streams.

    2. Re:Sounds like pump-n-dump by westlake · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I don't see Microsoft buying -anything- for a $20B outlay unless it were the next Google

      Microsoft has money to spend and AAA corporate credit. Exxon-Mobil grade credit. Why shouldn't it be out shopping for bargains?

    3. Re:Sounds like pump-n-dump by f0dder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Microsoft wants Yahoo patent portfolio.

  2. Why? by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Honestly, why is MS trying to get Yahoo? Yahoo is everything you would find in a dying company, a loss of public interest and a loss of revenue. Sure, MS could say that they owned a large portion of the search market, but what does that get them? Just about everyone is heading to Google and no doubt MS would manage to mess up Yahoo enough to make their few loyal searchers go elsewhere.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  3. Re:Hostile takeover by Ron_Fitzgerald · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Think what you will, but the only sane one in this deal was Jerry Yang from the start. Microsoft is ruthless - and this shows just how ruthless they are.

    How could you blame Microsoft on this? They offered the 44.6B and were turned down by Jerry Yang. Let me repeat that last part....Jerry Yang, the sane one, turned down the deal. His decisions resulted in a lesser valued company and now according to this article Microsoft is making another offer. How this leads to M$=EVIL I don't know.

    --
    ~ Ron Fitzgerald
  4. Re:Hostile takeover by toby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Jerry Yang is the reason Yahoo is in the toilet

    Uh, probably not. Over past 12 months Yahoo! is down 60%. But guess what? AMD is down 80%, the Dow is down 40%, Sun is down 85%, MSFT themselves are down 45%, even Apple is down 50%.

    Shall we blame Jerry for 12 months of decline across the board?? If you correct for the market downturn, even just the Dow index, then Yahoo! has barely dipped.

    (Actually the offer was made around 1 Feb, but the dips since then are about the same.)

    --
    you had me at #!