OT: Holy Crap... Microsoft is offering 45 billion for Yahoo.

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Submitted by flu on February 1, 2008 - 6:24am

Well, looks like Yahoo has a savior after all. Microsoft just announced they are offering 45 billion for Yahoo.

This will be an interesting cultural clash... You have Yahoo which is traditionally a BSD/PHP shop that will be bought by Microsoft. That will be very interesting. I think some (a lot) of heads are going to roll. Seems like the bid is unsolicited, and given that Yang had previously announced that it was not open to merger with MSFT, that would be interesting. I wonder now with Yahoo slumping if Yang still feels strongly about this...or if ends up being a hostile takeover.

But Microsoft....Thank you...Thank you...Thank you...Now I can actually unload my previously  ESPP shares and stock options that I mistakenly converted to then worthless shares.  

 

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I think it's a good buy.
Submitted by anxvariety on February 1, 2008 - 11:29am.

I think it's a good buy. Googles advertising revenue is much stronger, but they also got alot of free hype in the media over the last many years. Not that Yahoo didn't, but Google became the love affair for everyone and media.

Yahoo has alot more to offer(except #1 search engine popularity)that I think as they mature will eventually allow it to surpass Google - especially if MSFT ends up buying it.

No way. Where is yahoo's
Submitted by nostradamus on February 1, 2008 - 11:39am.

No way. Where is yahoo's "Earth"? Yahoo maps and directions suck compared to Google. The only thing Yahoo has going for it is email and messenger. $45B for an internet email site is insane. My take? Short MSFT. It's already down 6% today. With xbox losing out to Wii, windows losing out to OSX and redhat, and now this silly move to purchase yahoo, microsoft is going down mega-hard.

There's much more to Yahoo
Submitted by AN on February 1, 2008 - 11:55am.

There's much more to Yahoo than just email and messenger. Their finance section is still one of the best. Also, people stay in yahoo pages much longer than most. MSFT doesn't need an Earth version from Yahoo, they already have a kick a$$ version of their own. Yahoo still have 22+% market share in search, so if MSFT want to go head to head w/ GOOG, they have to get at least closer than where they are now. 9% is where they are at now + 22% from YHOO and you have 31%, much closer to GOOG 50+% than where they are now.

Regards to XBOX, it's doing just fine. Wii is in a completely different target than XBOX. The one XBOX needs to keep an eye out for is PS3. Wii is for cheap game play that can just have some fun at party. XBOX and PS3 is all about high-def, online game play, and media extender. Windows is losing out to OSX and Linux? Last I check, Windows is still the king of OS, like it or not.

Yahoo was (probably still
Submitted by flu on February 1, 2008 - 12:21pm.

Yahoo was (probably still is) a very disfunctional organization. A major house cleaning is needed.

 

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----- Sour grapes for everyone!

And today, Microsoft isn't a
Submitted by DrChaos on February 1, 2008 - 1:43pm.

And today, Microsoft isn't a disfunctional organization?

Ballmer having a fit as his best guys all bail to Google?

Windows Vista? 5 years to make what? who wanted that?

I think this means Yahoo is the next AOL and Google wins.

Microsoft will spend years to try to make Yahoo into a Microsoft-plug-in injection virus.

Time for Jerry Yang to start working on his charitable foundation. It will be much more fun.

Google flipped the bird at the conventional wisdom, and unlike Yahoo and post 1999 Microsoft, didn't put "adult supervision" and "business people" in charge.
(c.f. post-Apollo NASA)

PhD nerds run it, and PhD nerddom is the rule.

Looks like nerds are better at business than businessmen are at nerding.

EE Times says it better than
Submitted by nostradamus on February 1, 2008 - 2:12pm.

EE Times says it better than I can. I like the diverse opinions here and am not trying to prove I'm right but I think microsoft will only succeed to alienate loyal yahoo'ers and perhaps even push them to google.

IMO Jerry Yang is a fool if he doesn't accept this offer.

Yahoo is not worth $45 billion

@DrChaos Google flipped the
Submitted by ucodegen on February 1, 2008 - 10:09pm.

@DrChaos

Google flipped the bird at the conventional wisdom, and unlike Yahoo and post 1999 Microsoft, didn't put "adult supervision" and "business people" in charge.

PhD nerds run it, and PhD nerddom is the rule.

Looks like nerds are better at business than businessmen are at nerding.

ROTFLMAO 8-)
I needed that. I have had more problems than I can talk about, trying to explain the products that the company I work for makes, to the "adult supervision". When I see the the "adult supervision" getting into arguments about parking space, corner office, view, size of office, etc.. I ask myself.. what "adult supervision"? Would Ballmer be considered "adult supervision"?

My take on the acquisition: Microsoft is trying to take out competition. Both Yahoo and Microsoft(through MSN.com) offer much of the same: finance, search, mail.. etc. There is no synergy in this merger because the acquisition does not add any functionality to msn.com that doesn't already exist at msn.com. The corporate cultures are much different between msn.com and yahoo.com. I also think this will happen much the same way the 'hotmail.com' scenario went down.. with Microsofting of the product driving people away(and the related questions of why it doesn't run on a Microsoft platform, the problems and costs in getting it onto a Microsoft platform). I anticipate Microsoft having to write down a large portion of the purchase to a loss.

It is also important to remember that with advertising (where both msn.com and yahoo.com), combining them into one will not increase total revenue because advertisers are presently buying space on both msn.com and yahoo.com to ensure coverage. If they combine, one only has to buy from one.

What should really happen: Microsoft to return excess cash to investors as a dividend. Spend money on improving MSN portal. Realize that eye-candy does not make a good portal.

This is not likely to happen, and Yahoo will probably sell out. This is one that anti-trust laws might apply because it reduces existing competition and there is no synergy in the merger... but then we also know that those people are currently asleep at the wheel.