Breaking News: Microsoft Says It Is Abandoning Bid to Buy Yahoo

[enQuira]

Microsoft Says It Is Abandoning Bid to Buy Yahoo
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-03-2008/0004805689&EDATE=

YHOO will get a big hit on monday :o

[LinkBliss]

And then lawsuits, too... too bad.

In the end though probably a better decision for the marketplace.

Eric

[whooped]

That was... unexpected. I'd expect a hostile move if not a price increase. But I must say, it'll be a laugh to watch yahoo's stock price drop like a rock.

Anyone want to take bets on the closing price? $17 here.

[enQuira]

The second part of ballmer's letter aims to completely ruin the yahoo stock.
actually this move was expected and microsoft will come back with a lower offer.

[t2000q]

miscrosoft would only screw up the great free yahoo services

[ronmojohny]

Thank God..

[clb]

Microsoft has enough cash on hand (> $25,000,000,000.00) to buy any OTHER search innovator whose tech may compete with Google in the upcoming years. So Yahoo! and Yang screwed themselves here.

[soniqhost.com]

The second part of ballmer's letter aims to completely ruin the yahoo stock.
actually this move was expected and microsoft will come back with a lower offer.

The stock was already ruined prior to Microsoft making the bid for the company. It was around $18 a share and I expect it to fall down there again

[soniqhost.com]

Microsoft has enough cash on hand (> $25,000,000,000.00) to buy any OTHER search innovator whose tech may compete with Google in the upcoming years. So Yahoo! and Yang screwed themselves here.

Microsoft wanted to buy a big company to have a major online presence, while microsoft may have the money there are only a few companies out there that could give microsoft that amount of traffic as yahoo provided, then again $53 Billion for yahoo is a lot of money.

[hillord]

wow.. what a news.

[wisdomtool]

Yahoo has huge traffic but it is not really a success story, Microsoft may be better off with a nimble and more competitive start up that cost much lesser money to buy and would provide the flexibility and innovation that Microsoft needs. Both Microsoft and Yahoo are giants, I feel that they need to be flexible and innovative against Google. Both do not have such conditions, although they may have the traffic at the moment but things do change, especially in the Internet, lightning changes are possible.

Microsoft wanted to buy a big company to have a major online presence, while microsoft may have the money there are only a few companies out there that could give microsoft that amount of traffic as yahoo provided, then again $53 Billion for yahoo is a lot of money.

[kewlchat]

thanks for letting s know

[VuDo0]

53 Billion! I couldnt finish it in my whole life time.. :( I think yahoo should reject the offer.. lol :) Yahoo ftw!

[soniqhost.com]

Yahoo has huge traffic but it is not really a success story, Microsoft may be better off with a nimble and more competitive start up that cost much lesser money to buy and would provide the flexibility and innovation that Microsoft needs. Both Microsoft and Yahoo are giants, I feel that they need to be flexible and innovative against Google. Both do not have such conditions, although they may have the traffic at the moment but things do change, especially in the Internet, lightning changes are possible.

I think your underestimating how important traffic is in terms of search results. You can't take on google if you don't improve your search results. They need to provide better search result more inline with what people are looking for and to improve search results you need tons of traffic and searches done on your site to see what people are looking for and where they're going,

[wisdomtool]

That's precisely why Microsoft should take over a small and promising startup that can deliver such technologies rather than taking in Yahoo. Yahoo isn't strong on search but rather on its portal. But Microsoft main target is Google which is strong in its search. Forcing Yahoo into a corner may just cause them to ally together, which was why Microsoft would rather abandon any proxy wars.


I think your underestimating how important traffic is in terms of search results. You can't take on google if you don't improve your search results. They need to provide better search result more inline with what people are looking for and to improve search results you need tons of traffic and searches done on your site to see what people are looking for and where they're going,

[snowbird]

Microsoft has the money to make nearly anything happen. Their problem is that they have not invested enough into their search engine to make it worthwhile for advertisers to jump on board.

Let's face it, advertisers are website owners. And as website owners we can see how poorly constructed Live/MSN Search really is. If I can't get a reasonable organic listing in Live/MSN and a fair amount of pages indexed, I'm certainly not going to spend my money with them. If they want advertising revenue to improve, they first need to improve their search engine.

I'm glad the deal is off. Hopefully now they will all compete with each other...

[wisdomtool]

I don't think it is about investing of money, but rather how rigid their corporate structure is. For a huge company it is tough to innovate. I am sure that Microsoft have the capability to do something better than Google, the issue is they do not have enough space for innovation. That's why they are taking over Yahoo hoping to leverage on them.

Microsoft has the money to make nearly anything happen. Their problem is that they have not invested enough into their search engine to make it worthwhile for advertisers to jump on board.

Let's face it, advertisers are website owners. And as website owners we can see how poorly constructed Live/MSN Search really is. If I can't get a reasonable organic listing in Live/MSN and a fair amount of pages indexed, I'm certainly not going to spend my money with them. If they want advertising revenue to improve, they first need to improve their search engine.

I'm glad the deal is off. Hopefully now they will all compete with each other...

[pioneer1]

This is good news. Yahoo can keep on being innovative now

:)

[liljohn]

Yes Yes Yes!!!

[Sir Rusty]

Yahoo is better without Microsoft.

[Caesar1]

Microsoft has the money to make nearly anything happen. Their problem is that they have not invested enough into their search engine to make it worthwhile for advertisers to jump on board.

Let's face it, advertisers are website owners. And as website owners we can see how poorly constructed Live/MSN Search really is. If I can't get a reasonable organic listing in Live/MSN and a fair amount of pages indexed, I'm certainly not going to spend my money with them. If they want advertising revenue to improve, they first need to improve their search engine.

I'm glad the deal is off. Hopefully now they will all compete with each other...

Well said I think Microsoft can turn a lemon into gold.

[soniqhost.com]

That's precisely why Microsoft should take over a small and promising startup that can deliver such technologies rather than taking in Yahoo. Yahoo isn't strong on search but rather on its portal. But Microsoft main target is Google which is strong in its search. Forcing Yahoo into a corner may just cause them to ally together, which was why Microsoft would rather abandon any proxy wars.

No small and promising startup would be able to provide the amount of data that yahoo has, or that yahoo and microsoft together could bring in. Which could do into refining the search result that provide better results.

[soniqhost.com]

Microsoft has the money to make nearly anything happen. Their problem is that they have not invested enough into their search engine to make it worthwhile for advertisers to jump on board.

Let's face it, advertisers are website owners. And as website owners we can see how poorly constructed Live/MSN Search really is. If I can't get a reasonable organic listing in Live/MSN and a fair amount of pages indexed, I'm certainly not going to spend my money with them. If they want advertising revenue to improve, they first need to improve their search engine.

I'm glad the deal is off. Hopefully now they will all compete with each other...

Its not about money when it comes to search, google didn't have billions of dollars when it started but it did have access to yahoo when it first started which allowed it to adjust search results better as time went on.

[mdvaden]

miscrosoft would only screw up the great free yahoo services


There is no such thing as great free services that I can think of.

Maybe free for the taking, but not free for operating.

Most anything good anymore, costs somebody something.

In one way or another, the operating costs will be taken from some people somewhere.

[reuploaded]

phew, thank god for that

[FUNNYBIRD]

No small and promising startup would be able to provide the amount of data that yahoo has, or that yahoo and microsoft together could bring in. Which could do into refining the search result that provide better results.


I guess Yahoo can do better without Microsoft...ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh;)

[kodut]

after the price drop will come a hostile bid from microsoft

[w3bmaster]

I'm glad this deal is off ...

[kks_krishna]

Thats great news :)

[ronmac]

This is good news. Yahoo can keep on being innovative now

:)


that is a joke i hope :P

[pingpong123]

that is a joke i hope :P

No joke unfortunately. Msn can gain ground on google long term by buying out facebook and also smaller search engines but they would have been an instant threat if they bought yahoo. Jerry yang is a moron who just cost yahoo shareholders so much instant cash.

[dogblue]

yahoo want too much money

[dogblue]

37 dollar a share.. comone!

[wisdomtool]

Come Monday, I expect the share to be $17/share. It will nosedive.

37 dollar a share.. comone!

[martinuk]

I like yahoo

[dspohn23]

Come Monday, I expect the share to be $17/share. It will nosedive.

If it drops to 17, I'll buy a bunch of that stock! Within 5 years it will be worth so much more.

[braane]

Lol, I hate Microsoft--and even I think that Yahoo would be better with them. Yahoo is going down hill quick, in fact--their stocks were the higher with a MSN bid then they were without it. Yahoo rejecting them will come back to bite them.

[DJMC]

Lol, I hate Microsoft--and even I think that Yahoo would be better with them. Yahoo is going down hill quick, in fact--their stocks were the higher with a MSN bid then they were without it. Yahoo rejecting them will come back to bite them.

GMTA.....

yahoo will be worth $13 per share, within the next 7-12 months.

their board will get sued for failing to accept Bill Gate's generous offer (DUH).

[dannywwww]

Why don't microsoft put money into there own live search engine to improve results etc makes sense.

[Stealer]

Yes Microsoft read this and fix your search engines spiders to index more pages, I would love to be able to gain traffic from you. :D

[madmax728]

Microsoft should hire 100's of SEO experts and Website Managers to promote their website. If they spend 44 bil on promotion, they can easily beat yahoo! mail... Live search can be made better too.. So buying Yahoo was a bad plan..

[SEOguy101]

Microsoft should hire 100's of SEO experts and Website Managers to promote their website. If they spend 44 bil on promotion, they can easily beat yahoo! mail... Live search can be made better too.. So buying Yahoo was a bad plan..

The SEO and traffic isn't their problem. Its the fact that their search engine results plain suck. The money would be better spent on research and development to improve their search engine than on SEO....

[kks_krishna]

Yahoo search is better compare to live search. even some times they are close to google. only thing is they need some more time to prove them because they already lost their way. now they are leading in mobile space and have good market share in china and india. lets see
The SEO and traffic isn't their problem. Its the fact that their search engine results plain suck. The money would be better spent on research and development to improve their search engine than on SEO....

[HookMeUpLLC]

not so sure yahoo will drop

[guru-seo]

Yahoo is dead! Move on already. ;)

[wisdomtool]

Yahoo is extremely strong on portals, but I guess it needs to reexamine itself and focus on its core competencies, but Yang won't have an easy time.

Yahoo is dead! Move on already. ;)

[zexy]

Hopefully with all the buzz around Yahoo lately, the traffic from their search engine will increase now :D

[wisdomtool]

The buzz will be negative as advertisers loses confidence as well as employees morals goes down.

Hopefully with all the buzz around Yahoo lately, the traffic from their search engine will increase now :D

[guru-seo]

Just watch this link the next couple of days just for gigles.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=YHOO

[makelanguages]

yahoo is in trouble, they are not going to get another bid, i hope they could come back and sell it cheap

[godsofchaos]

I really do think that its a step from microsoft to make yahoo think that they are not worth what yahoo expects yahoo to be. Admit it, Yahoo is the only search engine that can actually 'come close to compete' with google, and yahoo's future potential is good. Share prices will rise and fall, yes it is a concern for their shareholder but I'm sure that Yahoo knows that their own worth is actually more than what microsoft offered them. The fact that 'yahoo' as a brand will actually die if Microsoft buys them is a good enough reason for such a move (not to accept the bid) from yahoo's end. This bid price will increase and it will increase from microsoft's end. Just wait and see.

[wisdomtool]

Worth is something the market decides, no one else come forth with even an offering close to what Microsoft does despite Yahoo's courtship with the various potential candidates.

I really do think that its a step from microsoft to make yahoo think that they are not worth what yahoo expects yahoo to be. Admit it, Yahoo is the only search engine that can actually 'come close to compete' with google, and yahoo's future potential is good. Share prices will rise and fall, yes it is a concern for their shareholder but I'm sure that Yahoo knows that their own worth is actually more than what microsoft offered them. The fact that 'yahoo' as a brand will actually die if Microsoft buys them is a good enough reason for such a move (not to accept the bid) from yahoo's end. This bid price will increase and it will increase from microsoft's end. Just wait and see.

[Sem-Advance]

Microsoft should hire 100's of SEO experts and Website Managers to promote their website. If they spend 44 bil on promotion, they can easily beat yahoo! mail... Live search can be made better too.. So buying Yahoo was a bad plan..


I turned them down as they don't pay enough to get me to get up, and get dressed, and then drive into NYC :D

Seriously.......it was nice to be recruited though.....

:)

[SEO_WatchDog]

That is going to be interesting how Yahoo + MSN or Yahoo+Google will change seo worldwide

[Lovely]

it is a welcome development, Microsoft can not pay what Yahoo worth. I hope Microsoft will put the money in search engine to make Live/MSN more attractive to webmaster with good result, improve there service and give Google and Yahoo a good fight...

[kingofsanda]

This is bad news, I was hoping that Microsoft woould have purchased
yahoo to give google some competition, but I guess not.

[wisdomtool]

I would think that Microsoft will be out shopping for some good search technologies start ups and swallowing them whole :)

This is bad news, I was hoping that Microsoft woould have purchased
yahoo to give google some competition, but I guess not.

[TomN]

So what happened to all the predicted $17/share outlooks? YHOO is at $25.26

[wisdomtool]

It is still too early to say :) It is now $25.26 but when all the hopes of Microsoft buyout is dashed it will crashed.

So what happened to all the predicted $17/share outlooks? YHOO is at $25.26

[ronmojohny]

I'm going to buy Yahoo with my next Adsense check...

[jssc]

Agreed. Something should be done to level the playing field a bit. Google's way too cozy up there. But Microsoft buying Yahoo is not the solution I think. Microsoft (like what everyone said) should invest its money more on improving their SE services.


This is bad news, I was hoping that Microsoft woould have purchased
yahoo to give google some competition, but I guess not.

[pioneer1]

Microsoft can build a great search engine themselves with $47b

:)

[wisdomtool]

It is not just about money, it is about coordination, development, deployment, so on and so forth and also the vision of their leaders, you can dump in 100 000 software engineers and nothing will come out of it.

Microsoft can build a great search engine themselves with $47b

:)

[topearn]

i think the main factor why google is such a great success is it has a great start and was the main search engine when people need to do searches on the net. It is very difficult for any company, no matter how big to overtake google as everyone is just to used to google as a search engine.

[phaiboon]

Google , yahoo & microsoft = powerful search engine