Microsoft offers $44.6 billion for Yahoo

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

REDMOND, Wash. - Microsoft Corp. on Friday offered to acquire search engine operator Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in cash and stock in a move to boost its competitive position in the online services market.

Microsoft bid $31 per share for Yahoo, representing a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's closing stock price Thursday.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22947626/

[saltpoint]

1. Shoot. Now I'm forced to offer them $44.8 billion. That darn Bill Gates

is a fierce competitor.

[liberal N proud]

2. What Billy wants, Billy gets

[madrchsod]

3. walmart and microsoft rule the world

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Well actually in the world of the internets

it is The Googler that rules. Microserf is a bit of a billy come lately, struggling to establish any real presence in the realm of the Big G.

[A HERETIC I AM]

5. If you own Yahoo stock, you are going to have a VERY good day.

Unless you bought it at $31 or higher. Then you're still screwed.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. with 5 minutes to go till the open, volume on Yahoo is at 28.2 million shares and climbing fast

Bid/Ask spread is at 26.73/28.74

It will open at $19.18 and spike instantly.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. Too late to edit the above....

but the Bid/ask spread should have read 26.73/26.74 not 28.74

Shares currently at $27.78, up $8.67 for the day @ 11:59

[Deny and Shred]

6. Major assets in fewer and fewer hands.

In any competition, there are winners and losers. Capitalism's philosophical carrot for the masses is lower prices and better selection as companies vie to supply the varied tastes of the people at increasingly lower prices. This only works if there is competition ad infinitum.
There are eventual winners, and eventually they will choose to maximize profit, not spend the time and $$ to innovate. The deregulation of most industries has allowed for the concentration into fewer hands. This ultimately stifles competition. I don't think we've re-instituted the robber barons yet, but its these kind of deals, by a historically cutthroat entrepreneur like Gates, that remind me we're gradually headed that way.

The MSM has been gradually concentrated, and I have to go to foreign sources to find the real deal on what the US is doing internationally. Not many differing opinions on TV news.

[RuleOfNah]

8. Now Yahoo! layoffs make sense.

Trim before sale, classic Valley.

[cascadiance]

18. Please don't say that... I still work at Yahoo now!

As an old Unix hack, I don't really relish this prospect. Would like to see someone like Apple to buy us instead. I think it would be a lot better technical fit if they really want to USE Yahoo's technology, though I'm guessing business-wise they might not be interested at the moment.

[RuleOfNah]

24. My condolences.

If you and your old UNIX hack colleagues bail to do a cool startup, let me know. :)

[krabigirl]

9. Yikes - I hope that won't mean Yahoo mail users will have to use that awful Hotmail. blech

I don't like Hotmail or GMail.

[physioex]

17. Well...

The "new" version of yahoo mail is equally crappy. Let's hope they don't make us migrate.

[sellitman]

21. I switched to Google Mail (gmail) years ago and I am very happy with it.

The IMAP settings work great on my iPhone too!

[MilesColtrane]

11. What do you do when nobody wants your flagship product?

Go buy another company.

Excellent!

[countryjake]

12. Justice Dept 'interested' in proposed deal...

Feb 1, 2008 at 8:40 AM PST

By Associated Press

http://www.komotv.com/news/microsoft/15105456.html

~snip~

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department on Friday said it is "interested" in reviewing antitrust issues associated with Microsoft Corp.'s nearly $45 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo Inc.

If the deal goes through, analysts expect scrutiny from Congress, Justice and other enforcement agencies, but they say any concerns about search engine or online advertising market power may not be significant enough to stop the transaction.

"The antitrust division would be interested in looking at the competitive effects of the transaction," said Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona.

A spokesman from the Federal Trade Commission, which in December approved Google Inc.'s $3.1 billion purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick Inc., declined to comment. That deal still faces antitrust scrutiny in Europe.

Keith Hylton, a professor of antitrust law at Boston University, said Google's success in online search and advertising means a combined Microsoft-Yahoo would have significant competition.

"The fact that Google dominates this business will be a big factor in their (Microsoft's) favor in trying to get this approved by the regulators," Hylton said...

[kirby]

13. Antitrust n/t

[MarkInLA]

14. I would love it if Yahoo went down

Yahoo has engaged in heavy censorship both at home and abroad. They even helped the Chinese government put a reporter in prison. As Rep. Tom Lantos said, Yahoo executives are "moral pygmies".

[kirby]

15. Tom Lantos?

Thats the same guy shown on Sibel Edmond's 'State Secrets' gallery. Someone who may be involved, in some unknown manner at this point, in the plot that sold out the nuclear secrets to Israel, Turkey, Syria, North Korea, Pakistan, calls Yahoo executives 'moral pygmies'. Interesting.

[cascadiance]

19. As a current Yahoo employee now, I think I could safely look more down at him as a moral pygmie now!

:mad:

[defendandprotect]

26. How close are we to a corporate-owned internet --- ????

[politicallore]

16. I wish I had some stock now ;(

damn

[LiberalFighter]

20. How is this going to help MS?

[fujiyama]

22. It's mainly for advertising

where Google is kicking both Yahoo and Microsoft's ass.

But overall, this could get very tricky. As someone pointed out, how do you combine the two work cultures and integrate the two company's products?

Will they keep both Yahoo Mail and Hotmail? Both search engines? Both finance sites? But considering the internet and the search arena are MS' weak points, this could benefit them....or it could just be a colossal blunder.

[fujiyama]

23. It's mainly for advertising revenue

where Google is kicking both Yahoo and Microsoft's ass though Yahoo has an edge with the technology over MS.

But overall, this could get very tricky. As someone pointed out, how do you combine the two work cultures and integrate the two company's products?

Will they keep both Yahoo Mail and Hotmail? Both search engines? Both finance sites? But considering the internet and the search arena are MS' weak points, this could benefit them....or it could just be a colossal blunder.

[OhioChick]

25. Privacy advocates sound alarms over Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo

Privacy advocates sound alarms over Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo
Possible merger raises similar online privacy concerns as the Google-DoubleClick deal did


February 1, 2008 (Computerworld) The mere specter of a merger between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. is sounding alarms among some privacy advocates, who say that any union of the two companies should be permitted only after a thorough investigation of how it would affect online privacy.

The privacy-related concerns raised after Microsoft announced its $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo this morning are similar to the ones that have been voiced in connection with Google Inc.'s planned purchase of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick Inc. In both cases, the concerns center on the possibility of vast amounts of consumer tracking information being consolidated in the hands of a single vendor.

The proposed combination of Microsoft and Yahoo "has far-reaching implications for consumer privacy," said Jeff Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), a not-for-profit advocacy group in Washington. Chester added that in the wake of the Google-DoubleClick deal, which was announced last April, it was inevitable that Microsoft would respond. "We predicted this day would come, but it has happened a lot sooner than we though it would," he said.

Microsoft executives said today that buying Yahoo would help make the software vendor more competitive with Google in the market for online services, such as search and advertising. During a conference call this morning, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platforms and services division, said that the online services business currently "is ruled by one" -- i.e., Google. "The industry will be better served by having competition," Johnson said.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=16&articleId=9060703&intsrc=hm_topic

[matcom]

27. this is a good thing

first, it will finally give Google some competition. that is a good thing. I work in the search marketing industry and Google needs to at least be aware there is another player out there.

second, Yahoo has sucked from a customer service standpoint for a long time and getting suckier every day.

unfortunately, this will probably kill their paid inclusion side of the business which is going to hurt us in the short term.