1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Microsoft to buy Yahoo

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by pasfile, Feb 1, 2008.

  1. worldman

    worldman Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,337
    Likes Received:
    261
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    225
    #41
    This is no merger. This is MS buying out Yahoo. And btw it has sent the value of Yahoo and Microsoft stocks through the roof while leaving Google with an 8% difference (down). Check it out.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22947626/
     
    worldman, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  2. reuters

    reuters Banned

    Messages:
    358
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #42
    is yahoo accepted the offer? ohh wht will happen if yahoo agree?
    really nice info mate. thanks
     
    reuters, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  3. promanz

    promanz Banned

    Messages:
    559
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #43
    I don't think they accept that offer
     
    promanz, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  4. snowbird

    snowbird Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,036
    Likes Received:
    395
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    290
    #44
    microsoft sux. if yahoo decides to accept the offer, webmasters should contact the government and complain about anti-trust concerns and a lack of any other real competition.
     
    snowbird, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  5. kiviniar

    kiviniar Notable Member

    Messages:
    1,964
    Likes Received:
    256
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    255
    #45
    This is the best possible team and the only possibility to end Google's monopoly.

    Hope this goes through
     
    kiviniar, Feb 1, 2008 IP
    britishguy likes this.
  6. TorchedSEO

    TorchedSEO Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    108
    #46
    Didn't Yahoo already turn down a $55 billion offer from Microsoft last year?
     
    TorchedSEO, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  7. adityaw

    adityaw Peon

    Messages:
    130
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #47
    January 31, 2008

    Board of Directors
    Yahoo! Inc.
    701 First Avenue
    Sunnyvale, CA 94089
    Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
    Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer

    Dear Members of the Board:

    I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft’s closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.

    Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.

    We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft’s share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.

    Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.

    In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that “now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction.” According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the “potential upside” if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.

    While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:

    Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.

    Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences, breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities. Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that today neither of our companies has on its own.

    Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity.

    Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is greatly enhanced.

    We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

    We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.

    Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

    In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.

    Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

    We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.

    Sincerely yours,

    /s/ Steven A. Ballmer

    Steven A. Ballmer

    Chief Executive Officer

    Microsoft Corporation
     
    adityaw, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  8. TorchedSEO

    TorchedSEO Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    108
    #48
    LOL yea webmasters think this is a good thing but yahoo, google, and msn all have a similar algo. Which is older sites with trusted and long term backlinks rank first, brand new sites with no links rank last. Nothing really changes except now you only have to do seo for 2 se's. All 3 are aggressively going after duplicate content and all 3 are trying to put "information" pages first and "commercial" pages last so more people click on the search ads.
     
    TorchedSEO, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  9. britishguy

    britishguy Prominent Member

    Messages:
    7,949
    Likes Received:
    892
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #49
    That to me seems like a very valid comment and occasionally this type of deal is necessary in a huge market to balance the playing field a little

    So this should help if the deal goes through
     
    britishguy, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  10. worldman

    worldman Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,337
    Likes Received:
    261
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    225
    #50
    I am ashamed to be associated with a webmaster who shows total lack of sense when it comes to mergers and corporate buyouts. Please enlighten me as to what anti trust laws would be at stake here?
     
    worldman, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  11. www.AmCy.org

    www.AmCy.org American CyberSpace®

    Messages:
    1,642
    Likes Received:
    60
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    190
    #51
    Here's a clip from WSJ:

    If they ruin Y! Search, I'm going to the poor house.
     
    www.AmCy.org, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  12. UKWebmasterForum

    UKWebmasterForum Guest

    Messages:
    477
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #52
    Sounds good, I like the idea of MS buying out Yahoo!, it would definatly make their online presence more powerful, and with Yahoo! mail and Hotmail, I think they would pretty much own the e-mail market.
     
    UKWebmasterForum, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  13. ichigo

    ichigo Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,913
    Likes Received:
    116
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    135
    #53
    this brings a smile to my face. if they become one, they can possibly beat google.
     
    ichigo, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  14. azharcs

    azharcs Peon

    Messages:
    372
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #54
    I am sure yahoo will accept the offer, there can be nothing better than this offer, their stock price is really low and they are being given 66% premium. Yahoo should just take it.
    Google...is tomorrow's evil corporation. They still have a long way to go before they take over the world.
     
    azharcs, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  15. snowbird

    snowbird Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,036
    Likes Received:
    395
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    290
    #55
    I would rather see a partnership (not a buyout) of Live and Yahoo if the goal is to give Google a run for its money. But neither MSN or Yahoo has enough market share combined to even crimp Google's dominance.

    Microsoft's track record with delivering quality search results is less the stellar in my opinion. Yahoo does a better job at delivering quality results, and to give Microsoft control over those results is risky.

    Still to this day Microsoft generates referrer spam in my sites logs. Microsoft has no regard for webmasters in the use of such tactics. How many out of the loop webmasters out there think Live Search is really sending them traffic? One of my sites listed in Live Search for a generic English keyword is outranked by a site completely written in another language. Microsoft's crawler must be on crutch's or in a wheelchair because it's the slowest bot I have seen. I guess what I am saying is the Microsoft should fix its own search engine if it wants to make any money. Yahoo does not send me much traffic, but it is a heck of a lot more then Live Search (excluding referrer spam from Live).

    I would be more inclined to support Yahoo buying out Live Search. At least Yahoo has its act somewhat together. As far as I am concerned, Microsoft has miserably failed in the search engine market.

    I am surprised that so many support this. Yahoo will probably decline the offer, but the risk here is that the search engine market will shrink even further. We could be left with two major players. :(
     
    snowbird, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  16. UKWebmasterForum

    UKWebmasterForum Guest

    Messages:
    477
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #56
    I just can't believe the size of the prices in today's acquisitions, 44 billion! Wow, so much could be done with that money it is unreal.
     
    UKWebmasterForum, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  17. leader

    leader Peon

    Messages:
    481
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #57
    Google will never be beat! I do not want Microsoft to purchase Yahoo!, they would probably ruin the website.
     
    leader, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  18. leader

    leader Peon

    Messages:
    481
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #58
    I believe that Google will always be the king on the playing field. The search engine technology is better than Microsoft's, and Yahoo!. However, if Microsoft and Yahoo! combine, we might see some interesting things happen. I still think that Yahoo! is better off not merging with Microsoft. Yahoo = $44 billion, Google = $100+ billion
     
    leader, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  19. leader

    leader Peon

    Messages:
    481
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #59
    True, so many things can be done with 44 billion. I think that buying Yahoo! for that much is a waste of money. I wouldn't want to wait over 50 years so that I can surpass my investment (buying Yahoo!) if I was Microsoft.
     
    leader, Feb 1, 2008 IP
  20. uniqueasitis

    uniqueasitis Peon

    Messages:
    661
    Likes Received:
    29
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #60
    Google, too, will one day be beaten. The question isn't if but when. And let's hope Microsoft does just that with this deal of theirs or at least provide some tough competition to Google so that we get better products.
     
    uniqueasitis, Feb 1, 2008 IP