It ain’t over until…

…Icahn says “It’s over”! I know, we all thought the Yahoo thing was pretty much dead and buried. Guess again. It now looks like billionaire investor Carl Icahn might just get oust the current board members.

Investore Gordon Crawford looks like he may side with Icahn and back proposals to sweep away the current board of directors. So what? Well, this will leave Icahn in a position to review the Microsoft acquistion offer (Icahn believes Yang and co. should have accepted the MS bid).

And right on cue, up pops the Microsoft who have apparently suggested they are willing to talk to Yahoo!

Yawn!

Popularity: 43% [?]

DoJ launches anti-trust investigation.

It would seem the US Department of Justice is a little edgey about the deal which allows Yahoo to serve Google ads. To be honest, I’m not really surprised when you consider that the deal effectively wraps up 80% of the search market between two companies!

Ok, the deal hasn’t actually gone ahead yet as Google and Yahoo have agreed to give the DoJ 3 months to investigate but as the companies aren’t merging the deal doesn’t need upfront approval. If found to be anti-competitive the deal could be stopped or modified.

Given that the advertising rights are not exclusive, I would say that this deal will be approved with little or no change to the wording.

I wonder how Microsoft will answer this!

Popularity: 46% [?]

MS eating Google dust!

In fact, they are also chewing on Yahoo’s dust. Figures for May show Google with a huge 61.9% of search market share followed by Yahoo with 20.6%. Google have a very long lead. To be fair, Yahoo have actually managed to improve their share by 0.2% over Aprils figures.

Erm, then there’s Microsoft. The software giant managed grab 8.5% of Mays search figures. That’s not too bad for an offering that is still relatively new to the game (if you discount the figures that show market share of 0.6% since April!)

I wonder if there’s any room for another search engine in the market?

Popularity: 62% [?]

For users who don’t have unusual names!

Ok, the subtitle isn’t strictly true but, you have to admit, it is quite difficult to find a simple Yahoo email address.

The two new domains, ymail and rocketmail, have been created to alleviate the problems many users are experiencing when trying to use their own name for email. Yahoo Mail is about 11 years old and currently has approximately 260 million users - now you see why it’s almost impossble to create an email address with the name such as ‘Bob Smith’!

Account creation on the new domains mirrors that of Yahoo Mail and there’s another bonus - unlimited mailbox size. In addition, current users of YMail will be able to migrate emails and contacts to the new domains.

The most sought after names have been reserved by Yahoo and will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to Jerry Yangs retirement fund charities such as The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Ocean Conservancy, The Point Foundation, Right to Play and World Wildlife Fund.

Popularity: 43% [?]

Is the Yahoo founder leaving?

There’s no denying that Jerry Yang is a man who makes things happen. They Yahoo co-founder built a multi-billion dollar internet empire from the ground up. The company has been attracting at least 1.575 billion users by 2008. Having built an iconic company, what next?

At a news conference to announce the ending of acquistion talks with Microsoft Yang stated; “clearly it is time to move on,”

Where to now? Yang will be in demand. Big demand. There are no doubt many companies ready to pay a hefty premium to bring him onboard. The hiring of Jerry Yang would no doubt boost the profile of any company which will almost certainly equate to a higher profile and increased revenue.

But does he want it? Yang really doesn’t have to work again. He’s estimated to be worth around $800 million.

Personally, I’d like to see him start again. There’s always room at the table.

Popularity: 22% [?]

A poke in the eye for Microsoft.

If you’ve been following events at Yahoo you’ll know that the no.2 search engine has been testing google ads served up with Yahoo search results. Well, the testing finished sometime ago. Yahoo was also involved in a an acquistion dance with Microsoft. As you can see, this fell apart.

Now come the latest announcement: Yahoo will have the option of serving Google ads. The contextual ads will only appear alongside search results for Yahoo’s American and Canadian sites. I don’t think it will take long for this to extend to other countries.

Interestingly, this agreement is not exclusive meaning Yahoo can enter into similar arrangements with other contextual ad services.

This news is great news for Google. Some readers might see this as a slap in the face for Yahoo. Not so. Yahoo generates the majority of revenue from direct advertising. By farming off ad results this gives them more room to concentrate on their core business.

Could we see a future tie-up between Google and Yahoo? It’s and interesting prospect.

Popularity: 26% [?]

It’s all very confusing

Yesterday, Microsoft gave a statement suggesting that a deal could still be on the table. What Redmond called an “alternative transaction” means that Microsoft could buy up parts of Yahoo rather than a full acquisition. Potentially, this could releive Microsoft of the issue surrounding redundancy payments for a large swathe of Yahoo employees.

On the other hand, Yahoo are saying something totally different - all talks have ended. The pioneering internet company has said there will be no further talks around full OR partial acquisition.

Yahoo gave the following statement:

“With respect to an acquisition of Yahoo’s search business alone, that Microsoft had proposed, Yahoo’s board of directors has determined, after careful evaluation, that such a transaction would not be consistent with the company’s view of the converging search and display marketplaces,”

There are bound to be more twists to this tale.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Another day, another billion dollars (or so)

Have you heard of Carl Icahn? If not, he’s a billionaire investing who made his fortune buying and selling companies. He currently owns about 50 million shares in Yahoo and is trying to force the Yahoo board to sell to Microsoft. Get the picture now?

Icahn recently sent a letter to Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock in which Icahn stated he will replace Jerry Yang as CEO and sell to Microsoft in a deal that would value the internet pioneer company shares at $33 plus. Icahn has suggested that shares in Yahoo are worth $34.375 which values the company at $49.5 billion. He has also pledged to remove the severance plan for Yahoo employees should MS acquire the company in a move that would save Microsoft around $2.4 billion in severance pay.

If the MS falls through, Icahn has said he will seek a deal with Google.

Hmm, it’s getting hot again. Is this all part of Redmonds proxy battle to remove the Yahoo board? Personally, I don’t think so. Microsoft are no doubt pushing ahead with plans for their own search technologies whilst Yahoo are commited to outsourcing search advertising to Google which makes a deal look less likely.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Make your bloody mind up!

Did you read this article: ‘Microsoft walks away‘? I held up my hand and admitted I was wrong. Now I’m going to put my hand back down. Far from being end game, it would appear that Yahoo are still interested in a deal. Jerry Yang admitted to have mixed feeling over the breakdown of negotiations (probably due to the investor backlash). Yang has suggested that the door is still open to Microsoft - if they’re interested. Share holder believe that the software giant is still interested so let’s see how this plays out over the next few months.

Googley eyes are watching with interest.

Google has no doubt been watching events very closely. The merger of Microsoft and Yahoo would present a formidable opponent in both the search and advertising arenas. It would be fairly reasonable to suggest that recent announcements, such as availablity of Salesforce software through Google apps, have been designed to counter some of competition. The primary source of revenue for Google comes from advertising. If a Yahoo/Microsoft merger started to significantly eat at this source of cash the company would be in real trouble.

Don’t expect Google to slow down either. The merger could still happen. This could cause Google some real pain. I fully expect a whole series of announcements and new applications coming out of the search giants labs, just in case.

Popularity: 30% [?]

I was wrong!

I’m sure you’ve had one of those days when you’re sure you could never get it wrong. You know the answer way ahead of everyone else. How could you ever be wrong? If your views are ever proved wrong the fragile world you’ve crafted will crumble and fall.

Ok, it’s not that bad but I was sure that Microsoft would make a more aggressive move on Yahoo. Not so. Despite Redmond upping the bid to $47.5 billion (£24.1 billion) no breakthrough was made. The major stumbling block was that Yahoo were insisting on at least $53 billion - a price Microsoft shareholders were not prepared to pay. Microsofts withdrawal was announced by Steve Ballmer in a letter to the head of Yahoo, Jerry Yang.

What now?

This leaves Microsoft with one option - go it alone. The Redmond based company has made a number of search oriented acquisitions suggesting that Microsoft were prepared to take the hard route if all else failed. Ballmer and co. will need to start moving fast. The stakes are high. The Yahoo bid was part of a Microsofts plan to gain a greater share of online advertising - a market predicted to be worth $80 billion by 2010, double that of 2007.

What about Google?

A recent announcement suggests that Yahoo will use Google ads to generate revenue. This may have been a ploy to try and throw off Microsoft. Yahoo has seen a rise in the share of the search market and will work hard to continue this trend. Don’t expect them to give Google an easy rid. There you have it, I’ve put my hand up and admitted I was wrong. But the glittering prize, to the tune of $80 billion, is still up for grabs. Let’s see how it goes.

Popularity: 62% [?]