Yahoo letter clarifies Google, Microsoft deals

Yahoo letter clarifies Google, Microsoft deals

Yahoo letter clarifies Google, Microsoft deals
Yahoo CEO Jerry Wang and Chairman Roy Bostock on Wednesday sent a letter to shareholders explaining the June 12th deal with Google, as well as clarifying its negotiations with Microsoft, who recently made a bid for the search and advertising giant. Yahoo writes that the “carefully structured” agreement with Google will add $250 to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow for the company during its first year of operation.
The deal has Yahoo providing algorithmic and sponsored search results as usual, in addition to ads from Google displaying alongside Yahoo search results. Cash flow from advertisers to Google, back to Yahoo will supposedly strike “the right strategic balance” by enhancing the company’s financial results, while also helping it achieve a position as a common “starting point” for internet users. Yahoo hopes this approach will give the company a “must buy” for internet advertising from the point of view of prospective clients.

Yahoo assures investors that the deal compliments its overall revenue generation strategies that the company is already pursuing, and any subsequent deals with Microsoft or others would not be jeopardized. Yahoo did add, however, that the agreement with Google would add more shareholder value than the Microsoft search-only hybrid proposal.

After a number of meetings with Microsoft, Yahoo concluded that the software giant’s proposal was inadequate, due to forfeiting a large amount of control over company operations, as well as insufficient profitability for the company and shareholders. Microsoft would maintain veto control over company actions, and would hold Yahoo to a 10-year arrangement where all search business would be dependant on the former company.

The note also addressed billionaire Carl Icahn’s efforts to undermine the authority of the current Yahoo board. Yahoo simply addressed the matter, putting Icahn in a bad light, saying that Icahn – as well as any board put forward by the investor – would not care about the future of Yahoo itself once the deal had gone through. Yang and Bostock put it to investors whether they want a board who cares about the future of the company, or merely drones who will offer no beneficial agenda.

(Via MacNN)

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Here we go again and again – Microsoft/Yahoo in Talks

Microsoft/Yahoo full buyout talks on again?

Conflicting reports have surfaced today of Microsoft potentially renewing its interest in a Yahoo deal. Information sent from “multiple” sources to TechCrunch claim that the two firms have not only resumed talks after Yahoo’s abrupt conclusion of negotiations but that Yahoo is willing to entertain a bid lower than the $33 Microsoft says it proposed immediately before talks first broke down in early May. The move is said to be triggered both by a steep drop in Yahoo’s share price as well as pressure to secure an important agreement with Microsoft.
The search engine pioneer is also in upheaval after several key executives left the company within the past several days, including the founders of Flickr and Del.icio.us. A threat of a proxy takeover of Yahoo’s board by investor Carl Icahn has been minimized at the same time, however, as Microsoft’s statements that it has no more interest in a full deal have reportedly quashed Icahn’s plans.

TV network CNBC, however, has responded to the claims by citing a contact said to be close to Microsoft who rejects notions of a full deal.

“There is no deal for the whole company, and nothing has changed as of today,” says the unnamed insider, though the contact doesn’t mention the possibility of a revived partial deal that would include buying out Yahoo’s search ad division.

Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo has publicly commented on either of the rumors.

(Via MacNN)

Yahoo-Microsoft talks fail, Google deal?

Yahoo-Microsoft talks fail, Google deal expected



According to Reuters – Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp have failed to agree on a partnership or merger, the companies said on Thursday, sending Yahoo shares down 13 percent.

Instead, Yahoo is close to a search advertising deal with Google Inc and an announcement could come later in the day, sources familiar with the matter said.

The software maker had sought a deal with Yahoo for more than a year. By early May. Microsoft had offered up to $47.5 billion to buy the Internet company.

Microsoft hoped an acquisition would accelerate its ability to capitalize on Internet advertising growth and better compete with Google, which is increasingly fighting for the same audience of Internet users.

“It was pretty clear it was going to be one or the other. Yahoo wasn’t going to do a deal with Google and then partner with Microsoft,” Global Crown Capital analyst Martin Pyykkonen said.

Yahoo said on Thursday that Microsoft had made it clear in a meeting on June 8 that it was no longer interested in buying the company outright, even at the price of $33 per share Microsoft had most recently proposed.

Read full Article HERE

(Via reuters .)

CBS And Yahoo partnership

CBS And Yahoo To Announce Partnership Tomorrow Morning

We’ve got confirmation that CBS is going to announce an important partnership with Yahoo tomorrow morning.

While we don’t yet know exactly what it will entail, we are confident that Yahoo will be joining the CBS Audience Network, which distributes CBS content to destinations such as YouTube, AOL, MSN, Joost, Veoh, Fancast, Bebo, and TVGuide. See a longer list of partners here.

The CBS Audience Network launched in August 2007 and streams 70,000+ videos to over 300 partners. More than 190 million streams have been delivered since launch, the most popular of which are highlighted on the network’s own destination site.

Videos are generally delivered with pre-roll advertisements, and revenue is split between CBS and the partner websites. In addition to syndicating to other sites (but, notably, not Hulu), CBS offers video content through its main site and iTunes. The company recently began testing high definition streaming as well.

Yahoo TV already provides content from NBC and FOX (via Hulu), making the addition of CBS a trio of sorts. We hear CBS will cite the inclusion of Yahoo in its network as providing it with an unprecedented 92% US online reach. It also appears that CBS’s collection will be the single largest content contribution to Yahoo TV.

While YouTube joined the CBS Audience Network quite a long time ago, it only offers short clips without any pre-roll advertising. Therefore, it lacks the full-length content found elsewhere in the network, and presumably starting on Yahoo tomorrow. With all the activity on the web surrounding the monetization of full-length content, and the recent departure of its head of monetization, one wonders whether YouTube should start taking long format, professional content more seriously. Or start to lose a bit of its luster to competitors like Yahoo.

(Via TechCrunch.)

Microsoft proposes alternative deal to Yahoo!

Microsoft proposes alternative deal to Yahoo!

Microsoft Corp said on Sunday it proposed an alternative deal to Yahoo Inc rather than a full acquisition, but the move was unlikely to win favor with financier Carl Icahn, a person familiar with his thinking said.

Icahn launched a proxy campaign on Thursday to replace Yahoo’s board with directors who would reopen talks with Microsoft, saying Yahoo had acted irrationally in refusing the giant software company’s $47.5 billion bid.

Microsoft walked away from its pursuit of Yahoo two weeks ago after three months of negotiations when Yahoo’s board rejected Microsoft’s sweetened offer of $33 a share, saying the company was worth at least $37 a share.

The software giant’s move on Sunday was likely to prompt the billionaire investor to press Yahoo to further pursue a possible alliance with Google, the source said.

“Microsoft is trying to get the milk without buying the cow, and if you look at Icahn’s history, he has never been used that way,” said this person. “He does not want to see Yahoo pushed into some joint venture with Microsoft and is not going to be used to push Yahoo into it.

Read Full article HERE.

(Via reuters)

One more time…Microsoft Proposes New Deal to Yahoo

In Reversal, Microsoft Proposes New Deal to Yahoo
Microsoft has made a complex proposal that would involve collaboration in the online advertising business but would not involve a full takeover, the company said on Sunday.

(Via NYT > Technology.)

Microsoft pulls bid for Yahoo!, Microhoo will never be

Microsoft pulls bid for Yahoo!, Microhoo will never be

Microsoft/Yahoo: No Deal Today!

Microsoft/Yahoo: No Deal Today, Markets Look For Announcement Early Monday

Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo continue as the market closes and the business week comes to an end. Every signal is that the two sides are close to finalizing a deal, somewhere between $33 and $37/share.

Microsoft has signaled that they’ll go as high as $33 this week. The alternate board members, who must be notified before any announcement of Microsoft going officially hostile, have not been contacted by Microsoft, sources say.

The market agrees, with Yahoo stock up as much as 11% today. Yahoo closed at $28.68, up about 7% for the day.

Analysts we spoke to today, emphasizing that they have no inside information, say they expect a deal to be wrapped up over the weekend and announced on Monday. Look for a cash/stock mix in the $35 range, announced before the market opens, possibly with a conference call pre-market as well.

The main reason Microsoft has changed strategies seems to be the overt willingness of Yahoo to do a search outsourcing deal with Google in the event Microsoft walks away or goes hostile. The threat is very real, and some experts say that regulatory approval of such a deal would not be as difficult as some have speculated.

See our interview with Citi Analyst Mark Mahaney from earlier this week.

(Via TechCrunch.)

Microsoft close to hostile bid for Yahoo

Report: Microsoft close to hostile bid for Yahoo“With the right circumstances it’ll happen. Without the right circumstances it won’t happen,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal Thursday.

Microsoft’s board met Wednesday to discuss its next step for the deal, announced Feb. 1, which offered $44.6 billion for the Internet company. Yahoo rejected the offer, leaving Microsoft with the choices of walking away or attempting a hostile takeover. The report quoted people familiar with the matter in regards to the lean towards a takeover fight.

Ballmer also told Microsoft employees Thursday, “I will go to what I think it’s worth if that gets a deal done,” the report said.

Microsoft is also considering raising its bid, from over $29 per share, to $32 or $33 per share. Yahoo rejected that offer, stating that a fairer valuation is $35 to $37 per share. As Microsoft’s own share price has declined since the February offer, the company would have to adjust its offer in order to reach the original terms of the deal, a mixture of cash and Microsoft shares.

Yahoo took its own steps Thursday, moving closer to an agreement with Google to begin carrying its ads, a deal that would bring Yahoo up to $1 billion more per year in revenue and make a Microsoft takeover more difficult.

Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have not commented publicly on the above reports.

(Via Macworld.)

Microsoft Says They’ll Pay More $$$ Yah-Ching!

Microsoft Says They’ll Pay More

Microsoft is leaking that they are willing to increase their Yahoo bid to as much as $33 per share, up from the original $31/share offer. That original offer, which included payment in Microsoft stock, has fallen in value to just $29.12/share.

This is a surprise since Microsoft has previously stated they wouldn’t increase their bid. Analysts largely expected them to either walk from the deal or go hostile.

$33 may not be enough to get Yahoo to move the knife away from their nose, however. The WSJ says they want $35 – $37.

The people say that it’s unclear what final approach Microsoft will take, but that discussions between the two companies have been stymied by a stark divide on price. Microsoft has said privately in recent days that it’s willing to offer as much as $32 or $33 a share, well above the $29.12-a-share value of its original cash-and-stock offer as of Tuesday’s market close, these people say. But major Yahoo shareholders have signaled they want in the range of $35 to $37 a share, with Yahoo’s management and board similarly shooting for an offer in the upper $30s, they add.

(Via TechCrunch.)