Microsoft Bids $44.6B for Yahoo

[John Doe]

Friday February 1, 6:41 am ET

Microsoft to Pay $31 Per Share for Yahoo, Totaling $44.6 Billion in Cash and Stock

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. offered to buy search engine operator Yahoo Inc. for $44.6 billion in cash and stock in a move to boost its competitive edge in the online services market.

Microsoft bid $31 per share for Yahoo, representing a 62 percent premium to Yahoo's closing stock price Thursday.

 

[JMJ]

With the recent layoffs I'd say they'll sell this time.

 

[advaita]

What are the implications for the pay per click sector ?

 

[John Doe]

I think they will sell, premium seems to be fair

 

[ishan]

If Microsoft does takeover Yahoo, will there be different search engines ?
MSN , Yahoo & Windows Live ?

 

[thebutler]

Good quote from the BBC website

Here's a good quote from the BBC website regarding the deal.

"It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google." from Tim Weber, business editor at BBC.

 

[FedPrimeRate.com]

WSJ Article

Here's a clip from WSJ:

Microsoft Corp. offered $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo Inc., in a bold attempt to dramatically expand its online business and compete more effectively with Google Inc. in services ranging from email to Internet advertising sales.

The offer was made in a letter sent Thursday by Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo's board of directors. One person familiar with the matter said that Microsoft decided to "go hostile" with its bid within the last few weeks after Yahoo ignored its latest overtures.

The offer, $31 a share in cash and stock, is a 62% premium to Thursday's closing price. Microsoft said Yahoo holders would be able to trade their shares for cash or 0.9509 Microsoft shares a piece, with no more than half of the overall purchase price paid in cash.

"We're very, very confident that it's the right path for Microsoft and for Yahoo," Mr. Ballmer said in a conference call Friday. The bid is "the next major milestone in Microsoft's companywide transformation to embrace online services overall and to invest very successfully" in online search advertising.

Mr. Ballmer said he discussed the offer late Thursday with Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang. He also signaled the announcement of Microsoft's deal was aimed particularly at Yahoo's employees. Morale has been an issue at Yahoo as the company has struggled and prepares for a round of layoffs.

In a statement, Yahoo acknowledged that it received the proposal from Microsoft and said that its board of directors "will evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders."

If they ruin Y! Search, I'm going to the poor house.

 

[Prof. Goldbloom]

Here's a clip from WSJ:



If they ruin Y! Search, I'm going to the poor house.

I hear you. Yahoo and MSN are the easiest of the search engines to conquer. Google takes more time, more expertise, and more work. Most of my sites are spread out between the three pretty well, but Yahoo seems to convert a lot for me.

I'll tell you what I think they'll do. I think they'll use Yahoo as a guinee pig. Every time MSN makes a move, they seem to slip further behind. I think they'll start trying their ideas out on Yahoo, and switch them over to LIVE if things go well.

 

[FedPrimeRate.com]

I think they'll use Yahoo as a guinee pig. Every time MSN makes a move, they seem to slip further behind. I think they'll start trying their ideas out on Yahoo, and switch them over to LIVE if things go well.

If the mad scientists at M$ turn Y! into a laboratory, I'm going to the poor house

 

[tonyfloyd]

I hear you. Yahoo and MSN are the easiest of the search engines to conquer. Google takes more time, more expertise, and more work. Most of my sites are spread out between the three pretty well, but Yahoo seems to convert a lot for me.

Prof.....what do u mean?...for high rankings for your keywords on Yahoo and MSN?......i am higher on Google than Yahoo....and if Google is so hard to rank on first page...and I'm there...then why am i not on Yahoo's first page?

any ideas?

thanks
tony

 

[Prof. Goldbloom]

Because they use different algorithms to rank pages. One that does well in Yahoo will not do well in Google...or vice versa. Then again, some will do well in both.

Yahoo uses more on-page optimization, while Google (it appears) hardly even looks at the page itself.

Google's got you up front because of this:

Results 1 - 10 of about 380 linking to italianhomerecipes.com.

Yahoo...I'm not even sure they look at incoming links.

 

[Earthian]

yesterday Yahoo share (YHOO) closed at $19.13 and that was before the news about the Microsoft bid ... it has been around $20-$25 for the last couple of months going down slowly and went down about $2 a couple of days ago (when they were talking about the layoffs)




right now YHOO is at $28.00 ($8.82 up or 45.99% up for today) ... it seems that the market/investors expect that Yahoo would agree to the Microsoft bid so the buy up shares (driving the price up) hoping that the will cash in those shares for $31 afterwards (or trade them for Microsoft shares) ... or keep the shares while the company gains value as it evolves inside the Microsoft family ...




YHOO in the last 5 days
YHOO in the last 3 months
YHOO in the last 12 years
​

 

[Shane]

Wow that is alot of money! What will happen with Yahoo mail? I dont like hotmail or live mail.

 

[labrocca]

Well....I was sort of expecting this. There was some rumors and I think it's a smart move for MS. Yahoo! however will become just another MS brand...not sure long-term if that's a good or bad thing. Yahoo! is one of the oldest and most well known internet brands around. Sadly however the site hasn't performed well for investors and I can't think of anything they have done or planned recently that would create buzz. With MS and the cash infusion I think YPN might become a full fledge ad network.

This is going to be interesting to watch unfold.

 

[HiSoC8Y]

After the acquisition, Microsoft + Yahoo would control only 28-30% of all searches.

that is still very low, Google has about ~ 70%

the numbers i saw it somewhere in the news, maybe not accurate...

 

[John Doe]

After the acquisition, Microsoft + Yahoo would control only 28-30% of all searches.

that is still very low, Google has about ~ 70%

the numbers i saw it somewhere in the news, maybe not accurate...

Click "Search Engine Market Share" link http://www.comscore.com/press/data.asp

 

[HiSoC8Y]

Click "Search Engine Market Share" link http://www.comscore.com/press/data.asp

Thanks for the info, i had it almost right

 

[nicholas]

It's about time. Yahoo! desperately needs to do this.

Too bad for them this still won't do anything to make a dent on GOOG long term.

 

[HiSoC8Y]

i dont think this deal would hurt google in anyway.....

google is leading.....

since the giant microsoft couldn't do it themselves

 

[Domainate.com]

I just posted in my blog about this. Personally, with Microsoft's dominance in operating systems and internet browsers, their inability to do better than 3rd in the race on their own leads me to believe that having Yahoo isn't going to help enough. It is a "good move", but compare that to the great moves that Google has done lately and Google will still have momentum (seems like they ALWAYS do) vs. only a temporary boost to Microhoo if Yahoo should take this deal. Woulda been much better before Google further cemented their web dominance with getting YouTube and Doubleclick.