Ballmer: Yahoo brand will live

Microsoft says it can find $1 billion in cost cuts by combining Yahoo's business with its own Internet services operation, however CEO Steve Ballmer says the Yahoo name isn't one of the things on the chopping block.

"Yahoo, the brand, will live," Ballmer told BusinessWeek.

Even if the brand lives, though, it is unclear which of Yahoo's technologies Microsoft would adopt. A merged company would have to choose among two e-mail systems, to ad platforms and two instant messaging systems, to name just a few of the many overlaps.

Microsoft has thus far offered few details on what it might look to cut if its deal goes through, and Ballmer didn't offer much in the way of new details in the magazine interview.

Of course, the biggest hurdle at the moment is convincing Yahoo to take its offer, one which has declined in value since it was made last week.

[mtoc]

TalkBack: Ballmer: Yahoo brand will live

definition of a good deal....if you can make value<br />from the transaction! I dont think MS will make full value of deal to justify purchase price....<br />unless they come up with a new angle to better Google and have a lot of revenue roll in.<br />in the meantime Google is thinking up new schemes to bring in more users and revenue. <br />also, if the deal goes through, Yahoo is deceased!

[fokwp]

$1B in layoffs

Er, any need to ask where the cost-cutting will come from? OK, the lucky ones will simply get crammed three to a cubicle after they've been forced to move 2,000 miles from home, true - but they'll still be waiting daily for the ax to fall. Great way to bring in new, cheap blood while trimming off those who have gotten high on the payscale over time - hell, no-one else would want 'em, why should MS have to keep 'em?

[FutureGuy]

the axe was coming any way..

..yahoo had already announced that a layoff of 1000 employees was coming. Moreover 1B saving is no big deal for a company of that size, they might save that much by having to buy less servers and a millions other things that doesnot require layoffs.

[t8]

The devil is in the detail

Is that Yahoo will live or Yahoo will turn into Live (live.com)?

[surfy.com]

issues

I have a few points to raise:<br />+ Yahoo has some global reach<br />+ Yahoo is better name than live, which is a pun for the live<br />+ Facebook investment might be a long term goldmine/mash or a flash. <br />- Gates/Ballmer need a search brain. Unsure if they can forge way into the space old school msway.<br />- That's an awful expensive dessert.

[FutureGuy]

Dear author

MS offered a fixed value (44Bil+) for yahoo, from what I know that offer is not tied to the price of MS's share, it might be more expensive for MS but the offer has not "declined in value", also you fail to mention that the stock market is down, MS share would most likely have declined even if it hadn't made this offer. Do you write blogs so you can be less accountable?

[BlueLaser]

Check your facts before commenting

Do you comment on blogs to make the author look smarter? According to the details of the Microsoft offer, a portion of the deal will be covered by Microsoft stock. In fact, Microsoft will only be putting up enough cash to cover half of the deal; the rest will be generated by converting Yahoo! shares to (roughly) .95 Microsoft shares. As Microsoft's share price declines, so does the total value of the deal since only half of it is covered by cash.<br /><br />See this article for complete details:<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/02/01/microsoft-or-bust-for-yahoo.aspx" target="_newWindow">http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/02/01/microsoft-or-bust-for-yahoo.aspx</a>

[ServedUp]

Initially the brand will live.

Ballmer's dreaming though.<br /><br />But if ever it did come to fruition as the BORG would say on Star <br />Trek say "Resistance is futile." Yahoo whether Microsoft decides to <br />further the Yahoo brand or not, will tarnish it either way just by the <br />association. Much like other brands e.g. Bungee - Who the heck are <br />these guys now?

[delf76]

Listen to some of you...

A lot of you are under the impression that Microsoft would just come in and kill off everything related to Yahoo, just to get it out of the way..<br /><br />Why would Microsoft pay 41 Billion to get rid of of a well known brand name? What would they gain from that? nothing... that's not a very wise investment.<br /><br />Microsoft and Yahoo would work together to combine forces. They already have with Live Messenger---you can IM Yahoo member from Live messenger and vice versa. It would make sense for them to continue to move forward. <br /><br />But, it's obvious, there are some areas that overlap. what happens to Zimbra? Who knows. My guess that would get axed, as Microsoft already offeres hosted MS Exchange accounts, but, there could be some underlying technologies in that they could incorporate into the next version of Exchange or whatever. <br /><br />If this acquisition goes through, it will be a long process of merging / axing overlapping areas. <br /><br />This should be interesting.

[Penguinisto]

Oh, they'll keep the brand name...

But, corporate culture being what it is, they'll happily gut everything else and scavenge only what they don't already have.<br /><br />/P

[GaraSys]

MS-Yahoo!

They'll brand it the way they brand everything they buy up:<br /><br />MS-Yahoo!

[jaspal.m]

it would be yahoo vs google...control by ms

Yahoo would offer free stuff and microsoft would charge you....

[Phil-IT]

Look at all the Yahoo divisions:

Everything Yahoo:<br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/family/more/" target="_newWindow">http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/family/more/</a>