Comments on: Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo

Offer--described by Yahoo as "unsolicited"--amounts to $31 per share, or a 62 percent premium above its closing stock price Thursday.

[JCPayne]

If Yahoo wants to be company in the future they will need to.

.... buy their own U.S. distribution network... That's the main problem with Yahoo.... Their next problem? They've stopped being innovators. I don't see anymore killer applications/services being created by Yahoo. In fact Yahoo has been scaling back services over the years.

I remember when Yahoo announced they were buying DialPad. I thought great Yahoo could do some great stuff with that... They merged it with Yahoo IM. But they haven't really added anymore killer features to Yahoo IM. SPAM has increased by leaps and folds on it. Soo much so I don't bother to leave Yahoo IM open anymore. (My friends are starting to do the same.)

When Yahoo announced their partnership with WikiPedia I expected to see more good things.... Nothing, really fruitful yet has come from that. I've also come to watch competitors buy-out key stuff that Yahoo let slip by.

MySpace's parent company went to Fox.

Facebook has gone to Micro$oft.

Live.com went to M$.

Craig'sList went to Ebay.

You Tube went to Google.

Anyway, I've thought of some deals which could still save Yahoo???

Buying their own pipeline, so that they have their own customers to draw revenue from by offering monthly Services. Buying perhaps QWEST or FairPoint Communications (The company which Verizon sold their New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont telephone network to.)

Perhaps the buyout of CableVision in New York City area. It would give Yahoo a market to also develop new Cable TV set-top boxes or the like...

A merger with Yahoo (first proposed by in 1999) could save Yahoo. Ebay gets millions of page hits daily that Yahoo could translate into more joint website visits. (e.g. imagine seeing a small box showing Ebay auctions closing soon on Yahoo.) It would make up for the marked failure of Yahoo Auctions. And would bolster Yahoo's marketplace against Google's Checkout Service...

Also Yahoo-Ebay-Paypal under the same roof would be a force to recon- with...

Also, why hasn't Yahoo found a partner to push more of their Yahoo services on cell phones???
Yahoo is becoming stale that is why they're lagging.

Com'mon raise your head Yahoo do something... You're losing your touch.... The leadership of Yahoo must be getting too old... They're not forward thinking anymore.

[JCPayne]

If Yahoo wants to be company in the future they will need to.

And don't forget Skype is owned by Ebay too. That would add better value in a tied up company with Yahoo too.

[knowles2]

this will never go through

I actually hope yahoo refused this offer, it never gonna get through EU anyway they just hate Microsoft outright and would not allow it just out of pure spite.

What Yahoo should do is immediately reject this offer announce a full overview of their product range and create a five year vision for the company to follow and then carry it out.

In five years time they will either have a stronger company which Microsoft cannot afford to by or have to rival companies Google and Microsoft in a fall scale bidding war for it, either way they would create bigger profit for the share holders and plus they will not spend years fighting court battles over the details of the deals in both USA and Europe, which in the long run will just mean Google increasing their market dominates in all sectors.

[fred dunn]

If they don't, They won't be around in 5 years

Yahoo is reporting losses quarter after quarter and just announced a layoff. The shareholders have an option to either make more than their shares are worth today or gamble that Yahoo has some tricks up it's sleeve.

I guarantee you this...If Yahoo does not accept the bid their stock value will tank and I mean HARD!

It really doesn't leave the Yahoo shareholders much choice. Yahoo's stock value was up 5% just Friday and most people have not had the time to digest the implications of the sale.

But what was more telling is that Yahoo's stock trading volume for friday was very high, meaning people are trying to make what they can before they cash out.

[atulkumthekar]

new name - MYCROSOFT

They will keep only the 'Y' percentage of 'Yahoo' after the merger anyways... as a bonus they will share 'O' 33 to 66 percent! as Yahoo has two 'O' s

:)

[atulkumthekar]

correction : MyCR'O'SoFT

they will share two 'O' in microsoft spelling.
first one ms will keep second for yahoo.
so the 'O' will not be entirely for yahoo.
marketing team will ofcourse have figured this
fact already.

[giant_david]

yahoos

Gulliver once traveled to a land full of justice, but its inhabitants where horses.

The way they spoke were weird at the beginning, but after a while he (Gulliver) could understand it.

The Yahoos, were horses with great intelligence and their society was a fair dream from Jonathan Swift genius.

Its is ironically repetitive to see how the classical becomes pop.

[JCPayne]

Dont forget WebTV/MSN TV service.

I remember all the statements about how WebTV was going to change the world.

Then again MSN already relaunched itself trying to boost numbers. It was originally "The Microsoft Network" remember the icon on Win 95? Then Microsoft launched that Funny looking MSN 6 Browser with the butterfly and huge jumbo oversized buttons! What the heck was that????

[Sumatra-Bosch]

Yapocalypse Now !

Ah, it's been a great 12 months for the snarling goons at Microsoft. The Vistapocalypse is driving millions to Linux, OS X and to XP, if only in steadfast refusal to move to Vista. The sorry enterprises that bought it are cursing themselves. Live? Stone cold dead. Now comes consumers' turn to gag in revulsion and run for the exits.

Everyone I talk to bailing on their Yahoo! accounts setting up alternatives all over the place, some places I never heard of. MyWay is still around, too. News to me. These outfits should set up Yahoo! refugee programs for people running from the Borg freakout that will surely follow their takeover.

The thing that will nuke the value of the deal, though, is the rank disgust with which most Yahoo! employees view Microsoft. Most would rather be homeless than work for them. The doors will be torn off their hinges from the stampede of employees running from the Yapocalypse. Ballmer can throw every chair in the place 100 times and it won't make a lick of difference. The place will be half empty inside of six months.

[t8]

Google will still win

Microsoft is a big fat giant with brand recognition problems. Nobody really knows what they are anymore.

Windows, .net, search, cola, new cars, skateboards. Who knows.

Their most important product Windows has surely failed in Vista. Office is too expensive and will suffer because of free offerings from the likes of Google and nobody knows what .net is.

But .net as a domain extention is number 2 after .com. Perhaps Google is .com and Microsoft is .net?

Anyway Google is focussed, lean, fast, and fit. When people think of the Internet, it is Google that comes to mind. When people think of viruses, it is Windows that comes to mind. Such associations are important and the fact that Google is the Internet is what makes them kick butt. BTW, of any company. Google deserve to be no1. They love the Net more than anyone, and 100% of their innovation is the Internet.

But for Microsoft, 100% of their innovation is making competitors products not work so well on Windows (which has made that a crappy platform) and how to fold the Internet into Windows.

Microsoft's vision just sucks.

[atulkumthekar]

google is very coroporate now

dont be too optimistic about google. they are prettymuch on the same roadmap. I think the roots are in capitalism - where there is no content. just hunger. This is same as prehistoric man. and we havent really improved.

Reminds me of a famous Qeen's statemet - if u dont have bread eat cakes. That is the reality of capitalism. there simply is no bread. have cake or die.

only aamish are the winners i guess. Bertrand Russell sure had some good observations on Technology as aginst science (and philosophical line of thoughts)

[sal-magnone]

Google is a search engine

[http://Nobody really knows what they are anymore.|http://Nobody really knows what they are anymore.]
How about,,, profitable, to the tune of 1+ BB a month.

[http://Their most important product Windows has surely failed in Vista.|http://Their most important product Windows has surely failed in Vista.]
Read the news and stop watching the Mac commercials.

[Office is too expensive]
Open Office is free. Where is it?
Google Apps are used by?

[http://nobody knows what .net is|http://nobody knows what .net is]
LOL- You really don't read the news. IIS is eclipsing Apache as we speak (and not to run java). WWF, WPF, ADO.NET, LINQ/PLINQ - any of these ring a bell? If they don't, don't send your rsume to Goldman, Lehman, Dow Jones; you know the AAA types.


[But for Microsoft, 100% of their innovation is making competitors products not work so well on Windows]

I still can't get that free OS to run any of my laptops.


GOOGLE is a great search engine with a great business, but that is it. They have had no real success anywhere else.

[GGGlen]

biZZaro times

In a Bizzaro world...
I mean, c'mon! Only the most rabid of MS sycophants would be
able to ignore simple math (as well as Business 101), by saying
that "MS BUYING OUT THE COMPETITION = COMPETITION".
Face up to reality already, will ya's?
There are current THREE Big Players in this market.
If Microsoft BUYS OUT one of those three, then THERE ARE ONLY
TWO PLAYERS LEFT.
Got it?
This ain't rocket science, folks, so for ya'll out there pushin' yer
buzz werds o' competition in the forums, the simple fact of the
matter is this...
TWO PLAYERS = LESS THAN THREE, SO THERE WOULD BE LESS
COMPETITION.
Sheeesh!

[RompStar_420]

Sun and Google should Merge

That would be a fantastic fit.

Sun already bought MySQL for a billion, mow that was a good purchase.

[Fil0403]

Insignificant player and market leader should merge?

Yes, that would be a fantastic fit, Google would get to be around 0.02% bigger. Even MySQL has an insignificant market share compared to own SQL Server, let alone something like Oracle.

[SystemsJunky]

This wont change a thing

Google is too ahead, Microsoft and Yahoo dont have the brains or the brawn...

[hrep14]

Re: This won't change a thing

I agree. Google has built itself heavily into the internet culture now. One of the most common terms I hear these days when people initiate a search on the internet is "I'll google it".

[oxtail01]

hear that sucking noise?

What? It already has changed things dramatically. Google just lost billions in the value of their stock and it's not going to stop. Wait till their stock price drops to $400

[ServedUp]

Microsoft guilty of being a Monopoly

Least we forget, that Microsoft was found guilty in 2000, of violating the Sherman act and were ordered to be split in two; functioning separately as two different companies, during the first antitrust trial. Although the judge (Thomas Penfield Jackson) at the time was considered to be guilty of being bias, guilty or not guilty, it's still quite a serious charge to have been implicated in, and there's no denying they did it. They just found a loop hole,got a new trial, a new judge (Colleen Kollar Kotelly), and a more palatable punishment. But even then that didn't stop them from undermining their fine. As they were also looking for ways of paying it off, with free software instead of providing the choice that currency provides, until someone pointed this out (Steve Jobs) it was another unfair practice of leveraging their monopoly by having them give Microsoft software instead of the latter.

http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/04/03/microsoft_ruling/index.html

So lets stop denying they are a Monopoly and focus on why its a bad merger.

Google in the highest degree isn't worried about the merger between these two companies. But it is worried about the monopoly Microsoft already has in computer operating systems and the browser market. And rightfully so, Microsoft is a company that runs 90% of the world's computer. They also dominate the browser space at 75% of the world market. Couple this with the fact they plan on creating web development tools for the internet as a whole surely that can pose somewhat of a serious threat. No? Surely this will be a cause for concern to Google, if not Adobe. Right? With a company that dominates most of the important categories in software for the PC. The question we have to answer here is ? why wouldn't they use this to their advantage? Certainly there are some serious consequential issues here for the law books, as laws are still being written for this kind of violation.

But on their own, Yahoo & Microsoft already provide a competitive atmosphere to Google as separate companies. Why change this? Microsoft just doesn't own as much as they'd like, paralleled to that of a spoiled child. There really is no need for them to merge if only for greedy purposes ? that could likely prove damaging to the market. I for one have no trouble sleeping at night that I don't see a Microsoft search bar or service dominating my every internet move. Its best left to those who've pioneered this technology and not to those who've just bought it.

[fred dunn]

Because Yahoo will go out of business...

If somebody doesn't shore them up with capital. They have been losing money due to Google monster share of the search business. IM and email aside, that is where the MAJOR advertising dollars are spent.
If somebody doesn't invest in or buy Yahoo outright then I don't see them being in business in 2 years.

[ThePcNut]

Microsoft , Yahoo, Google

I forgot something in my earlier post... Google is comercializing its self out of the picture . What the populus wants, is a search engine that gives it what its looking for , not what the advertisers are paying to be shown. Yes, the basic search engine that made it so popular.

[microsoft slayer]

This is HARDLY a big bid...

Microsoft is trying to STEAL Yahoo! Yahoo! is worth way more than $44 billion. Highly doubtful this deal will ever go thru.

[oxtail01]

Yahoo wants to be stolen

If I were a Yahoo shareholder, I would be jumping with joy with this steal. Since you don't provide any support for your argument, it seems you lack the proper financial accumens to make such an absurd assertion.

[Ben2talk]

History and Stupidity and repeating yourself...

Didn't they say that about Hitler in England before the war? Isn't it too late to fight after you realise that the real aim of Microsoft is to remove serious competition and choice (including better choices, valid options etc).

Do you think this move is financially motivated? or a serious attempt to take over internet, and further their aims (as the communists were once accused by USA) of taking over the world (of personal computers) and removing all viable choices available.

Anyone with intelligence should fight to limit 'Microsoft' to the world of software, and keep internet free from it's grasp.

Google may have issues, but they do not tell me to pay money for an operating system I do not wish to use in order to be compatible!

[oxtail01]

Capitalism at it's best

If MS can continue to dominate, then they should be given credit for using the capitalistic system to it's best. Do you think Google is driven by some noble ideaology that's that much different from MS? The last time I looked their market cap was larger than MS so who's the dominant player?

[diamondsmama]

problems from google?

Microsoft and yahoo think they have problems now ? wait til they combine and then everything on yahoo IE: email and messenger .... will have to be paid for . then google fans will just get more numerous .

[Lyzdog]

blah

Edina Apartments Steals Money

[JCPayne]

Remember when Microsoft wanted to buy AOL??

Anyone remember Steve Case standing up and telling a huge audience about when Microsoft said they wanted to buy AOL?

In his words:

http://www.businessweek.com/1998/29/b3587058.htm

"
On May 11, 1993, CEO Stephen M. Case of America Online Inc. (AOL) found himself face to face with Microsoft Corp. Chairman William H. Gates III. AOL, then the third-largest online-service provider, had gone public only a year earlier, after some fairly rocky beginnings. Gates--the most powerful man in Corporate America--was telling Case in a deadpan tone: ''I can buy 20% of you or I can buy all of you. Or I can go into this business myself and bury you.''
"

The fact of the matter is. Micro$haft NEEEDS this deal more than Yahoo needs Micro$haft.... I can name a bunch of flops by MS. From WebTV, to Microsoft Network, to MSN Search which they claim will be "on top" soon, to the thossing out of SCO vs. Novell...

Anyway
Yahoo has tons of potential suitors.

Ebay:
Then you'd see Yahoo, Ebay, Craigs'List, PayPal, Half.com, Overstock.com etc. etc. all under the same roof. Ebay would easily make up for the failed Yahoo Auctions attempt. And also Yahoo could rebrand the Ebay Stores and Yahoo Stores or something or Yahoo Mall and reap big bucks from that. Also PayPal would be a big competitor to Google's upstart "CheckOut" business.

Sony:
Sony Entertainment would be another potential suitor. Yahoo could become the backend for the Sony PlayStation like how there's an XBox Live. And Yahoo chat could be embeded in the Sony Playstation for realtime game chat etc. Sony phones could be outfitted with Yahoo IMer etc.

ViaCom:
Viacom has no large central network like how Disney/ABC does. Disney purchased the Go network and powers everything off there. Well Viacom has such stations as Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, BET, etc. etc. and they could put their content on Yahoo.

A US phone company might like to snap up Yahoo. It would give them a kick@$$ platform for Online media that they could call their own content. Plus Yahoo's deals with outside companies could be another source of revenue....

AOL/TW Could make a bid. After AOL-TW failed to bring in the large audience they could make a go of it again with Yahoo and see if they can do things right this time....

Another Suitor possibly from Europe might swoop down last minute. Sort of like Terra from Space snatched up Lycos etc.... You never know what might happen.

[sourceview]

Microsoft Offer TOO Cheap!

Microsoft has a penchant for buying up companies on the cheap side. Yahoo is worth at least $40. per share, plus while USA will aprove, EU will not! Microsoft needs to enrichen the pot to be taken seriously. The have already computed an internal rate of return in the $55-60 per shape range