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Yahoo Spent $79 Million To Fend Off Microsoft

Apologetics Blog writes "Getting bought by one of the biggest companies in the world turns out to be a rather costly thing. Last year when Microsoft was in talks with Yahoo regarding a possible buy-out, in a report recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Yahoo announced that it cost them $79 million to fight off Microsoft. Most of that money was spent on advisors who examined Microsoft's proposals, and the way it would impact on Yahoo's search agreement with Google. The deal fizzled out when federal antitrust regulators said it would challenge any deal made between the two companies."

29 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. advisors by sveard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shows that consultants win, as they so often (always?) do

    1. Re:advisors by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How can that possibly cost that much?

      Good salespeople.

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    2. Re:advisors by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Funny

      How can that possibly cost that much?

      They hired Dogbert Consulting?

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    3. Re:advisors by nacturation · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If my math is correct, that's about 54 man-years at $500/hour for 8 hours a day, 365 days a year. Wow.

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    4. Re:advisors by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Funny

      maybe they searched for "cheap advisors" and accidentally clicked the sponsored result.

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    5. Re:advisors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would be glad to explain it to you and guide you in your desire to switch occupations

      For my trouble all I ask is the small sum of (cue Dr Evil voice) $79 million dollars

    6. Re:advisors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't know how advisors work but consultants have a simple business plan:

      • Employ clueless CS graduates for cheap.
      • Hire them to clueless company wanting software project as "consultants" for $100 per hour.
      • Profit.

      The advisors probably replace "CS graduate" with "newly qualifed lawyer" and charge 10x the amount.

      Profit.

    7. Re:advisors by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not only that.

      I work for a major consulting firm handling bank accounts on the west coast. Consultants are not cheap.

      My company charges in excess of $350/hr on top of mileage and any extra work that may cause delay is charged at $519/hr. But again, we handle very important and sensitive data/work.

      Of course I make much less and sometimes, there might not be any serious work for months.

  2. fiduciary responsibility? by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Does Yahoo! have a viable business plan besides merging with someone else at some point? If I was one of their shareholders I might have gotten pretty annoyed that they dismissed the MSFT offer out of hand the way they did. What's the future of Yahoo! without a merger? They have a platform in the works that can pose a serious challenge to Google and secure marketshare against them or Microsoft? Didn't think so.....

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    1. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by biscuitlover · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, compared to Microsoft's flailing in search, Yahoo are a pretty solid number two.

      Hang on, let me rephrase that.

      Microsoft has been greedily eyeing up Yahoo's number two slot.

      Oh, forget it.

    2. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can be #2 and be wildly profitable and stable. In fact many time #2 is the most stable company to invest in.

      Thanks for telling me what you can be. Now tell me if you honestly think Yahoo has any future outside of slowly bleeding to death after Microsoft overtakes them and Google becomes even more entrenched.

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    3. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      I'm sorry but HAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you say MSFT overtakes them? Have you TRIED MSFT Search? Hell it was shit 10 years ago and it is shit+ extra stink now. The searches are total crap and most of what you find is simply crap trying to sell you junk that has NOTHING to do with what you are looking for.

      Yahoo may not be making any headway on the mighty Google,although personally I use Yahoo Search as I find it has better features, it is simply leagues above anything MSFT has or has tried in the last 10 years. Why do you think MSFT wanted to buy it so bad? Because Ballmer could see the "ideas" they were working on for Search and I'm willing to bet the entire division's ideas sucked the big wet titty. They just don't know squat about search and throwing more money at it won't fix it in this case.

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    4. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm sorry but HAHAHAHAHAHA! Did you say MSFT overtakes them? Have you TRIED MSFT Search? Hell it was shit 10 years ago and it is shit+ extra stink now. The searches are total crap and most of what you find is simply crap trying to sell you junk that has NOTHING to do with what you are looking for.

      I'm talking about the odds of success which strange as it may seem have little to do with the quality of Microsoft search. I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy but if you look at it objectively I think it was a bad deal for Yahoo's shareholders when management rejected Microsoft's offer. Microsoft offered $33/share, which was more than they've been valued since 2006 (and only for a brief time in 2006 at that).

      Do you honesty see Yahoo crawling back up to $33/share on their own with either their current product portfolio or anything they have on the drawing board? I hear a lot of people bashing Microsoft but I don't hear too many people defending Yahoo. I still say I would have been pretty pissed if I was a Yahoo shareholder.

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    5. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by rbanffy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, I sincerely doubt the MS offer was done in good faith.

      Had the MS bid gone forward, MS would have access to a whole lot of Y! internal data, research, plans and so on. If they later retired their offer as they considered the companies were never really a good match, MS would have walked away with a lot of inside knowledge about its biggest competitor in the search market and Yahoo would have gotten nothing but a lot of FUD and a probably mortal wound.

      This would be a lot less expensive than buying Yahoo! would be in the first place and Yahoo would be every bit as gone as #2 as if they were bought.

      This kind of maneuver is so typical of Microsoft I cannot imagine any other explanation.

    6. Re:fiduciary responsibility? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Informative

      If I was one of their shareholders I might have gotten pretty annoyed that they dismissed the MSFT offer out of hand the way they did.

      Why? Yahoo! is number two in a lot of it's business areas, but it's a solid number two and continues to perform solidly if modestly. The deal with Microsoft brought nothing to the table for Yahoo! subscribers but a short term injection of cash and a long term marriage to a company with uncertain future prospects.
       
      As a Yahoo! shareholder I'm glad they fended off Microsoft.
       
       

      What's the future of Yahoo! without a merger? They have a platform in the works that can pose a serious challenge to Google and secure marketshare against them or Microsoft? Didn't think so.....

      Yahoo! already has a larger marketshare than either in many areas - it's portal is stable and widely used. There's more to Yahoo! than search - and it's Google who is consistently, if poorly, attempting to catch up.

  3. Correction by BlindSpot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Getting bought by one of the biggest companies in the world turns out to be a rather costly thing.

    That should read "Not getting bought out..." since the deal never went through. If they had only just given in to Microsoft... then all it would have cost them is their souls.

  4. Re:Google - Yahoo Sale? by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Informative

    The google/yahoo deal was an advertising agreement, not a merger/acquisition.

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  5. Just in cause anyone wants it.... by SGDarkKnight · · Score: 4, Informative

    here is the link to the atricle that actually talks about the $79 Million dollar tab, with all sorts of links to all the related article stuff...

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10184454-93.html?tag=mncol;posts

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  6. Two thoughts for major shareholders of Yahoo by OneSmartFellow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1.) Immediately investigate Jerry Yang's connection with the "advisors".
    2.) Ensure that the current CEO understands that any future "advisment" of this nature will come out of her pension.

    That's $215K per day for a whole year !

    Do you expect me to believe that the 100 top flight lawyers and accountants were working every day of the year on this ? Or did they just hire Accenture ?

  7. Re:seventy-nine million dollars dollars by Vectronic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    $79 million dollars = Dollars seventy-nine million dollars.

    $79 million dollars = Seventy-nine dollars million dollars.

    $79 million dollars = Dollar sign seven nine space letter m letter i letter l... .. . . . .

    $ can mean dollars, or pesos.

    Who gives a fuck.

  8. $79 million not terrible. by Xest · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When our company took over a company worth £43mill it cost us £1mill in legal fees etc. etc. to get everything looked over and sorted out.

    I think for something of Yahoo's worth, $79 million isn't massively unrealistic. I'd say it's not unreasonable either, it is to most people including me, but in the world of business I'd say it's probably not.

    Still Yahoo, perhaps the most business plan challenged IT company in the last few years, turning down Micrososft, going for Google, getting told to f off by Google because of the potential for monopoly problems and then running back to Microsoft and being told to f off by Micrososft too.

    Ballmer is probably laughing his arse off, they offered over the odds to pay for the company but if they had paid that much and then seen the resulting decline of it's worth due to a number of factors from Google to the financial crisis then they'd have wasted literally billions.

  9. Re:So either way MS gains ground... by nschubach · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know if I'd call it genius or underhanded (people jumped all over Sony for doing something similar with that one import company...) but use the legal system and costs associated with it to drive your competition out of business.

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  10. Consulting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you're not part of the solution, there's plenty of money to be made prolonging the problem.

    http://despair.com/consulting.html

    :D

  11. Typical Nonsense Slashdot Post by briancarnell · · Score: 2, Informative

    Does anybody at Slashdot ever actually check *anything* before they post?

    "The deal fizzled out when federal antitrust regulators said it would challenge any deal made between the two companies.""

    The link is about the deal between *GOOGLE* and Yahoo!. Google != Microsoft.

    The deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft fizzled out because Yang did everything he could to prevent it, not because of antitrust concerns.

  12. $79 million for everything by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Informative

    the increases in outsourced service provider expenses were primarily the result of incremental costs incurred in general and administrative expense of $79 million for 2008 for outside advisors related to Microsoft's proposals to acquire all or a part of the Company, other strategic alternatives, including the Google agreement, the proxy contest, and related litigation defense costs.

    The way I read it, there's a lot of fees rolled into one.

    • consulting to analyze the MS offer or find an alternative (Google)
    • lawyers fees once they decided to reject the offer
    • consulting and lawyers fees to fight Carl Icahn's involvement (proxy contest) into the MS-Yahoo deal when he tried to have the board replaced
    • administrative fees to set up the Google deal (a deal worth $250 million to $450 million per year would require some initial investment)
    • lawyers fees to setup the Google deal

    Some of you may ask why so many lawyers. Well there a 3 separate legal issues here. Fight MS, Deal with Google, and fight Carl Icahn. You might get the same lawyers to fight MS and figure out the Google deal, but they really are different areas of the law and the large scope would mean you need more more bodies. For the proxy contest, you probably want a law firm that specializes in that.

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  13. 136th largest by dotwhynot · · Score: 3, Informative

    Getting bought by one of the biggest companies in the world turns

    Microsoft is the worlds 136th largest company

  14. Re:seventy-nine million dollars dollars by Dishevel · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Who gives a fuck.

    Your mom. For about $79. Pesos.

    79 Dollars Pesos?

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  15. Valuation killed the deal, not anti-trust threats by aunt_jamima_sr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > The deal fizzled out when federal antitrust regulators said it would challenge any deal made between the two companies. The way I understand it, the deal actually fizzled out because some Yahoo C-level egos couldn't agree on a valuation with Microsoft. Yahoo, whose stock currently trades for $12.60, wouldn't sell to MS for $33 / share because they felt they were worth $37 / share, and also because they are idiots. Slashdot actually covered this story at the time.

  16. I'm in the wrong line of work by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If it costs you over $70 million to figure out how being acquired by Microsoft would effect your agreements with Google, shouldn't you begin to suspect your agreements with Google are too fucking complicated? Especially when a simple Google search would tell you how Microsoft feels about Google

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