BREAKING: Microsoft to Buy Yahoo for $44.6 Billion

orang_letrik

sama macam hotmail kena beli la..

szerone9

huhu... ingat g aku memule ade akaun hotmail taun 2001... pastuh 2003 tukar yahoo mail... sampaila skarang...

MulutBecok

satu2 kene merge

tapi Yahoo ni nama besar

dia takkan ubah punya...

tapi hotmail dulu nama besar jugak..lepas kene beli..adoooo

RedMage

UPDATE: With Yahoo's board rejecting Microsoft's $44.6 billion acquisition bid, both companies still face formidable competition in Google.
Jeremy Kirk and Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service
Monday, February 11, 2008 09:23 AM PST
PC World

Confirming weekend rumors, Yahoo rejected on Monday Microsoft's US$44.6 billion cash-and-stock offer, saying the unsolicited proposal substantially undervalues the company.

In a statement, Yahoo said that its management team, along with financial and legal advisors, believe the offer doesn't reflect cash flow, earnings potential, or recent investments in its advertising platform.

Further, Yahoo said its board would continue to evaluate other "strategic options."

"We remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders," the statement said.
Teaming Against Google

Microsoft offered $31 per share on February 1, which was a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's closing price the day before, and was thus characterized at the time as the proverbial "can't refuse" type. However, since then, Yahoo's stock has risen in value and was trading just above $29 on Monday morning.

At the same time, Microsoft's stock has fallen since it made the offer, closing at $28.56 on Friday, down from a close of $32.60 on the day prior to the offer. Microsoft offered to pay $31 for half of Yahoo's outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half.

Yahoo's executives were rumored to have been searching for a buyer other than Microsoft. However, no buyer has emerged. Yahoo's latest moves mean that Microsoft may have make a more generous offer, or pursue a hostile takeover.

Microsoft said it believes the acquisition of Yahoo would give it the engineering talent and resources to compete better with Google. While Microsoft and Yahoo have had some success with display advertising, Google's has built a fortune on contextual text ads that appear during a search and on third-party Web sites.

With the offer, Microsoft acknowledged it believes that it and Yahoo can't make a credible run at Google unless they fuse into one organization.

However, skeptics doubt that jointly Microsoft and Yahoo will generate the magic potion that allows them to break Google's stranglehold on the search engine advertising market, the largest segment of the online ad market and the source of Google's riches. Far from making progress, Microsoft and Yahoo have seen their share of search engine queries shrink, as people's preference for Google expands.
Merger Logistics Challenging

If Microsoft acquired Yahoo, it would face the perils and traps of integrating its Internet business with Yahoo, which has 14,000 employees and enough internal problems of its own. The integration process could be long and painful, slowing down both companies while Google speeds further ahead. Eliminating redundancies at the staff, technology and product levels would be a major undertaking.

At the product level, Microsoft and Yahoo have many overlaps in areas like Webmail, instant messaging, advertiser services, portals, content sites, mobile services, online media properties and international properties -- most, if not all, based on different technology platforms that would have to be merged. Then there are the long lists of partnerships and customer engagements that they would have to work through and sync up.

Beyond the inherent challenges in fusing its Internet operations with Yahoo, the bid also prompted swift condemnation from privacy advocates in the U.S., like the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). These organizations argue that a combined Microsoft-Yahoo would have too much power over online journalism, entertainment, advertising and other forms of communications, as well as consumers' data.
Microsoft Mute

Microsoft Monday did not immediately issue a reaction to the Yahoo statement. However, it said when making its offer that it is convinced that the time to make a move is now, when it still sees considerable growth for online advertising on the horizon. Microsoft expects the market for online advertising to almost double in size over the next three years, from $40 billion in 2007 to $80 billion by 2010.

With Yahoo, Microsoft is confident it can supercharge its research-and-development efforts, boost its data center infrastructure and gain a heavy influx of engineering and business talent. Microsoft also see cost reductions at the tune of about $1 billion a year by generating "economies of scale" with a Yahoo fusion.

The merger plan would be drafted jointly by both companies and Microsoft will be aggressive with compensation offers to retain key Yahoo engineers and other staff, Microsoft has said.

While it never characterized the offer as hostile, Yahoo did describe it as unsolicited and didn't embrace it, remaining civil but noncommittal about its options, saying that it would review the offer and make the best decision for the company, its shareholders, customers and employees.
Google Watches the Action

Possibly guessing that Yahoo's management would rather keep the company independent, Google promptly swooped in and blasted the Microsoft proposal, saying it raised "troubling questions" such as whether Microsoft would attempt to replicate its "inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC. Google also reportedly entered into discussions with Yahoo over possible partnerships that would allow Yahoo to justify rejecting the offer.

On Monday, The Times of London reported, citing anonymous sources, that Yahoo is actively discussing possible tie-ups not only with Google but also with AOL and Disney.
Next Move: Microsoft

To be sure, Microsoft would also be taking on a company that has been trying to regain its business and technology edge for about two years, and that has gone through several rounds of dramatic reorganizations and management shakeups. In other words, Yahoo isn't precisely firing on all cylinders and Microsoft's Internet unit would certainly run the risk of catching that corporate malaise if it's unable to provide Yahoo with a quick cure for it.

Of course, Microsoft's Internet business has been far from a top performer as well, long suffering from lackluster performance, despite heavy investments from Microsoft. Critics also say it is afflicted by an identity crisis caused by the introduction of the Live name, which some feel has diluted the brand power of the MSN online services.

Microsoft believes it is still early days not only in search but in social media, and specifically social networking, areas which it believes are ripe for innovation and disruption.

Although the deal is aimed primarily at jump-starting Microsoft's online ad business, Microsoft has also said it hopes that Yahoo could boost efforts to make Windows and Office more Internet-friendly and bring them into the world of Web-hosted software. Microsoft has often been criticized for how slow it's moved to shed its legacy of desktop software to keep up with the innovations of Web 2.0.

Now, all of this is up in the air and it seems the next move is to come from Microsoft.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142346-c,yahoo/article.html

oobi

TECH:   Yahoo! News

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Microsoft readies Yahoo proxy battle


By JESSICA MINTZ
AP Technology Writer
Wed Feb 20, 7:38 AM ET

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. is getting ready to take its bid for Yahoo right to the Web portal's shareholders, even as analysts wait for a higher offer.

Separately, Yahoo Inc. adopted new severance packages that protect employees in the event of a Microsoft takeover.

Microsoft has hired proxy solicitation group Innisfree M&A Inc. to help oust Yahoo's 10-member board, all of whom are up for re-election this year.

A source close to the deal who is not authorized to speak publicly about it said Tuesday that Microsoft could spend $20 million to $30 million on that effort.

That's much less than the $1.4 billion each $1 uptick in Microsoft's bid would cost. Microsoft's offer two weeks ago was originally worth about $44.6 billion, or $31 a share. Based on Microsoft's closing share price Tuesday, the offer is now worth about $40 billion.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker's board plans to authorize a proxy battle this week, according to The New York Times DealBook blog. It has until March 14 to nominate a slate of directors for Yahoo. Microsoft and its advisers declined to comment.

Election results would be announced at Yahoo's annual meeting. Last year's was held in June.

Microsoft also may simultaneously circumvent Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo's management and ask shareholders to sell their stock to Microsoft directly.

So far, Microsoft has given no signs it will raise its bid, even though a person familiar with earlier talks between the two companies said Microsoft was willing to pay at least $40 per share for Yahoo a year ago. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer was never made public.

In an interview with The Associated Press Monday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the software maker was not talking to Yahoo about raising its bid.

Analysts, however, still believe there's wiggle room.

"I don't think what they're saying now precludes" a higher offer, said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Charles DiBona.

DiBona also said he thinks Microsoft would prefer not to go hostile but will if no progress has been made by the March deadline.

Yahoo reiterated Tuesday that its board is "carefully and thoroughly evaluating all of the company's strategic alternatives."

The Web portal and search company's new severance plans

Cretin.Penguin

Maybe not just the name that Micro$oft interested in....  Yahoo! search engine technology is far superior to Micro$oft & few patented routines/technologies are probably what they're after....  Plus, market dominance & honorable monopoly...... Ahhh, I can smell "unfair practices lawsuit" been cooking up all over the States & Europe.  Kes lama pun belum abis lagi, saja je nak buat kes baru....

szerone9

ape pekembangan terbaru isu ni? tak jadik merge kah?

oobi

News:   Yahoo! Tech

Icahn to Oust Yahoo! Board By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Business Writer   Wed May 14, 7:06 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is reportedly loading up on Yahoo Inc.'s stock in preparation for a possible attempt to shove aside the Internet icon's board and bring the company's disillusioned suitor, Microsoft Corp., back to the bargaining table. As he mulls whether to lead a rebellion, Icahn has accumulated about 50 million Yahoo shares, a stake of roughly 3.6 percent in the Sunnyvale-based company, both CNBC and The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Both media outlets cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. Icahn hadn't returned messages seeking comment as of late Tuesday. He faces a Thursday deadline to submit an alternate slate of directors to oppose Yahoo's board at the company's July 3 annual meeting. Yahoo representatives declined to comment about a possible showdown with Icahn. Confronting Yahoo's board would fit Icahn's modus operandi. The New York-based financier has a history of accumulating stakes in companies that have let down their shareholders with poor performances or questionable strategies. The list of troubled companies that Icahn has recently pressured into shake-ups includes Blockbuster Inc., Motorola Inc. and Mylan Laboratories Inc. He also pushed software maker BEA Systems Inc. into agreeing to an $8.5 billion sale to its rival Oracle Corp. this year after Oracle dropped a bid of $6.7 billion. Click HERE for more news on this.

[ Last edited by  oobi at 14-5-2008 11:12 PM ]