Microsoft offered to buy yahoo

[Ms DD]

Microsoft has offered to buy the search engine company Yahoo for $44.6bn (22.4bn) in cash and shares.

 

The offer, contained in a letter to Yahoo’s board, is 62% above Yahoo’s closing share price on Thursday.

 

Yahoo has been struggling to compete with Google, which has also been a competitor to Microsoft.

 

Can Yahoo help Microsoft take on Google?

Yahoo cut its revenue forecasts earlier this week and said it would have to spend an additional $300m this year trying to revive the company.

 

In a conference call, Microsoft's Kevin Johnson said that the combination of the two companies would create an entity that could better compete with Google.

 

It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google

 

Tim Weber, business editor, BBC News website

 

 

What's at stake, who will win?

 

"Today the market [for online search and advertising] is increasingly dominated by one player," he said.

 

Chairman quit

 

Yahoo confirmed that it has received an unsolicited offer and said that its board would evaluate the 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 Yahoo accepted the offer, competition authorities both in the US and the European Union would be likely to investigate the tie-up.

 

Yahoo chief executive, Jerry Yang, announced on Tuesday that he intended to lay off 1,000 staff as part of a restructuring plan.

 

Terry Semel, who stepped down as chief executive last June, also quit as non-executive chairman on Thursday.

 

Microsoft said that Yahoo shareholders could choose to receive either cash or shares.

 

YAHOO'S FALLING PROFITS

Oct to Dec 2007 down 23%

July to Sept 2007 down 5%

April to June 2007 down 2%

Jan to March 2007 down 11%

 

 

Yahoo share price

Microsoft share price

Google share price

 

Yahoo shares have fallen 46% since reaching a year-high of $34.08 in October. They opened 51.2% higher.

 

Microsoft opened 4.3% lower while Google shares fell 6.8%.

 

"Ultimately this corporate marriage was forced by the rise of Google, which has grown into a serious competitor for both Microsoft as a software company and Yahoo as an internet portal," said Tim Weber, business editor of the BBC News website.

 

"It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google."

 

'Exorbitant premium'

 

According to its letter to Yahoo, Microsoft attempted to enter talks about a deal a year ago, but was rebuffed because Yahoo was confident about the "potential upside" presented by the reorganisation and operational activities that were being put in place at the time.

 

"A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved," Microsoft's letter said.

 

But there has been some concern about the price that Microsoft is offering.

 

 

HAVE YOUR SAY This smacks of desperation from Microsoft who have consistently failed to achieve a meaningful online presence

Matt, UK

Send us your comments"To me, the premium seems exorbitant, for what is a dwindling business," said Tim Smalls from the brokerage firm Execution LLC.

 

"I personally don't see how the synergies of Microsoft-Yahoo is going to take on Google."

 

Other analysts were more enthusiastic about the offer.

 

"It is a fantastic offer. It is game on," said Colin Gillis from Canaccord Adams.

 

"This consolidates the marketplace down to Google versus Microsoft. These two companies will be going head to head."

bbcnews

 

 

I wish I came up with the idea of Yahoo.

[Jacaylbaro]

loooooooooooool@i wish ,,

 

 

I wish too ,,,,,,

 

 

I'm wondering the day Microsoft buys Yahoo ,,,, i'm expecting a big change in that competition and even the market.

[Ms DD]

There are occasions aan is cuncuno for not being smart enough to have created yahoo or google or something!

 

Arent there stuff aad ka shaleeyso?

[Jacaylbaro]

of course ,, look at youtube for example ,,, it was just a simple idea to create such website to upload videos until Google bought it with millions of dollars ,,,

 

 

Aheey ah ,,,,, ilayn talo isuma kaa sheegto ,,

[Suldaanka]

^^ LOL

 

I once watched a documentary about the history of "Patents". It started off talking about the 1900 century Patents Office in the British Empire.

 

The presenter quoted that the head of the Patents Office in London was so overwhelmed by the number of Patents in the record books which he had to overseer, to the extent that he exclaimed "There is no more inventions in the world, almost everything has been invented". There were less than 1 million records in the book he wsa keeping.

 

Today, IBM alone lodges an average 20,000 Patents every single year.

 

My point is, don't be like that Officer. Invention is literally limitless. Just scratch your head a little, you never know what the human brain is capable of.

[Geel_jire]

Patents are a good indicator of original inventions but not always.

 

but these days, patents are being granted for the most obvious things. the infamous 1-click patent by amazon.

 

1-Click, also called one-click or one-click buying, refers to the technique of allowing customers to make online purchases with a single click, with the payment information needed to complete the purchase already entered by the user previously

^^ this is not a joke, that is what patents are being granted for these days.

 

for large corporations patents are like arsenal to use against other companies competing with you in the market place to intimidate with.

 

For individual it is a good indicator of an ego problem especially in the academic community makes you look better, and eases you search for Grants.

 

Note: I am only referring to the absurd patents being granted these days. if you have done original research and invented something a patent can help protect you.