I read that there are several other private equity firms that are willing to go few rounds with Microsoft for Yahoo. What about also IBM? Or Bidu? Surely Alibaba aso has the dough to finance it. Apple will not come to the rescue as some people wonder. Google CEO is on their B.O.D. The synergy between Apple/Google would not be placed in jeopardy for a sick puppy like Yahoo. My opinion of course.
besides the goog aapl BOD connection, jobs would love to stick a dagger into msft. aapl combining forces with goog to take out yhoo is not inconcievable. goog and yhoo execs have already had talks about outourcing yhoo search to goog. and jobs was at the yhoo campus giving a pep talk to execs last sept. besides the two PE firms that I know that are kicking the tires (one of them has former yhoo president Dan R. as an advisor - Quadrangle Partners) 'm also hearing the following chatter: ~murdoch may bid. ~yhoo is talking to NBC (GE) to spin off yhoos media group (a big money drain for yhoo, and its locatd in LA near NBC), take the money and doubledown on their investment in search and display. whatever happens will take a while. it's not going to be settled next week, that's for sure.
and if msft does end up with yhoo (which will go for north of 45 when and if the deal is finally done months from now), watch goog buy AOL before July. goog is moving into the diplay ad market fro their purchase of doubleclick and they need content in order to sell display ads. AOL will the past big player left. and goog already owns a good percentage of AOl, i think around 5-10% at this point.
reasons for aapl and goog to team up to buy yhoo in a partnership: 1. steve jobs can finally drive a dagger into msft 2. this way google won't have to buy AOL this summer for their display ad biz (goog already owns about 5-10% of aol) 3.goog ceo, eric scmidt, is on appl BOD 4. steve jobs was at yhoo HQ in Sept. to give a pep talk to yhoo execs. 5. yhoo, goog, and appl all have a similar culture when compared to msft. a much better fit.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080203/yahoo_mic... http://tinyurl.com/2sml5t Reuters Yahoo mulls Google tie-up: source Sunday February 3, 5:19 pm ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) insiders are mulling ties to rival Google Inc (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) as a possible defense to rebuff Microsoft Corp's (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) takeover bid, a person familiar with Yahoo management's thinking said on Sunday. Yahoo believes Microsoft's $44.6 billion offer undervalues the company, according to two sources. One possible Google tie-up could involve Yahoo, which is the leader in banner or display advertising, turning to Google as its search provider. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ i have heard from my own sources that yhoo and goog have had talks in the past about outsourcing yhoo's search to goog for a nice sum. yhoo was reluctant to do it because they have hoped to try to catch up to google, but now with msft's lowball offer, this deal makes a lot of sense.
Let MSFT have YHOO. They're overpaying by billions. What GOOG needs to do is to develop it's own OS and free gPhone. All MSFT has going is Guitar Hero and Vista monopoly.
lets not forget that MSFT invested 250 Million into Facebook based on a Facebook valuation of 15 Billion. ummmmm....Facebook 2007 Revenue less then 150 million Yahoo 2007 revenue almost 7 Billion. 31 is the intitial lowball offer. msft knows they will have to pay much more then 31 for yhoo. and they we have this....... http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/02/yaho... http://tinyurl.com/2phlwa Yahoo-Google May Team Up to Thwart Microsoft Henry Blodget | February 3, 2008 6:32 PM Reuters reports that Yahoo is considering outsourcing search monetization to Google as a way of keeping Microsoft at bay. This move would likely instantly drive at least several hundred million dollars of incremental revenue and operating profit for Yahoo. It would not likely cause Microsoft to give up its pursuit of the company, but it might result in a higher bid. It also might reduce shareholder pressure on Jerry and the Yahoo board. The WSJ says Eric Schmidt called Jerry Yang on Friday to offer help. "Help," according to the Journal's sources, could include the search deal or "a role in attempts by others to outbid Microsoft, or by Yahoo to remain independent." Not that Jerry doesn't need all the help he can get right now, but Google's anti-Microsoft obsession borders on Ahabian.
Yahoo acquisition will be the worst mistake MSFT ever made, and that's saying a lot. MSFT shareholders should rejoice if the deal falls through.