Microsoft Walking From Yahoo Deal, Will Not Pursue Hostile
Microsoft raised its bid to $33. Yahoo's board wanted $37 (Jerry Yang and David Filo reportedly wanted $38.)
Microsoft's release and a notably gracious (but firm) letter from Steve Ballmer hit the wires Saturday evening. Copy below.
We expect Yahoo's stock will drop to at least the low $20s on this news. Microsoft's should rise.
We think this is a smart move by Microsoft for four reasons:
- We think the combination as proposed would have been a disaster.
- We don't think Microsoft needs to be in Yahoo's business (Microsoft obviously disagrees)
- We think $37 a share would have been too much to pay for Yahoo right now.
- We think there is a reasonable chance that Microsoft might be able to buy Yahoo for less than $30 in six months to a year if Yahoo can't get its act together.
We think Yahoo is taking a big risk not accepting $33, especially if the offer was cash, and we imagine Yahoo shareholder frustration will be intense. We hope Yahoo continues to pursue its search outsourcing deal with Google, as well as its discussions with Time Warner over AOL. We suspect Microsoft might immediately emerge as a counter-bidder for AOL.
See Also:
Microsoft-Yahoo Still Negotiating, Deal Odds "50-50"
60% Chance Microsoft Walks From Yahoo Deal
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc.
"We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft.
"Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal," said Ballmer.
"We have a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business through innovative new services and strategic transactions with other business partners. While Yahoo! would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals," Ballmer said.
"We are investing heavily in new tools and Web experiences, we have dramatically improved our search performance and advertiser satisfaction, and we will continue to build our scale through organic growth and partnerships," said Kevin Johnson, Microsoft president for platforms and services.
Below is the text of the letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Yahoo!
CEO Jerry Yang.
May 3, 2008
Mr. Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.
I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!'s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.
I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.
In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.
Also, after giving this week's conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.
We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a "hostile" bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:
-- First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!'s own strategy and
long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed
to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your
search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem
surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display
advertising business to fuel future growth.
-- Given this, it would impair Yahoo's ability to retain the talented
engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our
interest in a combination of our companies.
-- In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems
that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among
other things, this would consolidate market share with the
already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce
competition and choice in the marketplace.
-- This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key
search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the
process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to
whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business
perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle
to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.
-- It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search
provider that is not already relying on Google's search services.
Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!.
We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.
I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.
But clearly a deal is not to be.
Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Steven A. Ballmer
http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.658890/browse_thread/thread/a9330add73c2cc86/7c4f5b9b2e32ee64?hl=en&lnk=st&q=#7c4f5b9b2e32ee64
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Dear Jerry:
After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.
I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!’s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.
I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.
In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.
Also, after giving this week’s conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.
We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a “hostile” bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:
•
First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!’s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.
•
Given this, it would impair Yahoo’s ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.
•
In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.
•
This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.
•
It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google’s search services.
Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Yahoo!.
We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.
I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.
But clearly a deal is not to be.
Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.
Sincerely yours,
Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation
***********
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Disclosure Statement
Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as Microsoft Corporation’s ability to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the proposed transaction, Microsoft Corporation’s ability to promptly and effectively integrate the businesses of Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation, the timing to consummate the proposed transaction and any necessary actions to obtain required regulatory approvals, and the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues. For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft Corporation’s business, please refer to the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft Corporation’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft Corporation’s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft Corporation’s website at http://www.microsoft.com/msft.
All information in this release is as of May 3, 2008. Microsoft Corporation undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company’s expectations.
*************
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j said:
May. 03, 8:15 PM
short pressure forced balmer to withdrawal. Higher offer to follow...
Where do you see this? Or is this your opinion? I can't believe Yahoo! is being so close-minded and hard-headed I am absolutely fearing Monday right now.
MSFT UP
GOOG UP MORE
YHOO DOWN DOWN DOWN
YHOO to get sued from every direction
1- The deal drove attention to Yahoo more, during this time Yahoo has improved its FP. I personally changed my Homepage to Yahoo from Google.
2- Strengthen Yahoo position in the market.
3- Over 3 month period, Many of the longs sold their shares, many shorts sold theirs too. The remaining were the real short shorts who wanted to make last day cheap money and I do not think they will sell their shares easily.
4- Yahoo stock will not drop to 19, I think 23/24 range. Yes, I might be wrong but many shorts will wait to see if MS comes back or Yahoo reorg and do better job in this/next year.
5- Good for MSFT because, SteveB did not paid more than what would hurt MS stock dramatically aka 35/37...
HEY ALL YOU YAHOO SHAREHOLDERS - I WANT YOU TO HOPE IN ONE HAND AND SHIT IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH ONE FILLS UP QUICKER.
GOOD LUCK, LOSERS!!!!!! YOUR STOCK IS NOW HEADING BACK TO THE TEENS ON MONDAY - WHERER IT BELONGS!
Here is what I said on the 30th. I've had deal negotiating experience. I have no knowledge other than what I have extensively read on the matter between MSFT/YHOO. As a point of disclosure, I have been long MSFT for sometime now and have no ax to grind with YHOO. I was involved in a deal in the last 6 months that developed into a strikingly similar impasse. I thought I'd share what happened. We had "our Yang" on one side and "our Ballmer" on the other. "Our Yang" had unrealistic expectations and either couldn't or wouldn't accept the fact that the market had changed over the last 9 months. "Our Ballmer" desperately tried to do everything to make the deal - taking into consideration the changes that occurred in the market. However, "our Yang" acted just like the real Yang. He just didn't want to hear it. The end result was that "our Ballmer" could not justify "our Yang's" unrealistic expectations and walked the deal. Now 4 months later, "our Yang's" deal is on the market again for a significantly lower price than he could have obtained from "our Ballmer" and there is less interest. My assessment is that unless YHOO comes to the table fast (24-48 hours to accept a $32/34 deal -- MSFT will walk and YHOO stock will plummet to very low 20's. In my example above, people really thought that "our Ballmer" was "too pregnant with the deal" to walk but they grossly miscalculated. I predict the same outcome here IMHO.
Rav said:
Apr. 26, 2:31 PM
I think MSFT goal is to acquire YHOO at <= $35 in a friendly deal. Its simply not worth that much if they have to go hostile. In fact it may not be even worth a few bucks lower, if they have to go hostile, due to all the negatives that come out of the hostile deal like uncertainty, employee churn, distraction etc. Its possible that Yahoo management may adopt a scorched earth policy if they see a hostile deal winning.
As joeblow explained above a +/- 10% is not a big deal for MSFT considering their financial condition and how desperate they are for YHOO. They have all along been trying to get a friendly deal, so I doubt they would go hostile at this point. Also I believe that Yang won't accept anything below $40 for a friendly deal, which MSFT can't afford due to the negative effect on its stock. I think the most likely outcome at the end of this weekend, would be that MSFT would pretend to walk, just to see the effect on YHOO stock. After a few weeks of this pretension, if YHOO stock goes down significantly, they will come back with a hostile $31 offer. If YHOO stock remains unchanged or goes up (I know, very few people believe in this scenerio, but its likely in my opinion, depending on market conditions), then they will complete a friendly deal with Yang in the $35 - $40 range. They would have a good justification and a stronger stock for this at that point.
Assuming this is how it plays out and MSFT walks on monday, the way to benefit from this is with a hedged options play is as follows:
1. Its stock will go up short term. Once it settles, buy Jan 09 puts on MSFT.
2. YHOO stock will react and fall down a few bucks . Once it settles, buy Jan 09 calls on YHOO.
3. Also buy GOOG Jan 09 calls.
After a few months, its likely that MSFT would close on Yahoo. In that case both (1) and (2) will make money. If that doesn't happen, then (1) and (3) will make money and cover any losses on (2). If YHOO makes a deal with GOOG to outsource its search, then all of them (1), (2) and (3) will make money.
In the worst case, if nasdaq crashes, (1) will make money probably not enough to cover losses from (2) and (3), and if nasdaq rallies big time, (2) and (3) will make enough to cover any losses from (1). At this point nasdaq crashing seems like a low probability event based on valuations.
It reads like Ballmer was pissed by Yahoo's deal with Google.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The loser is you. Thanks again for your high intellect comments. You've clearly dazzled the SAI community with your infinite omniscience (based on all those who responsed to your waste of space rants). Enjoy your MSFT downward spiral as Goog Apps rips 15% market share over the next 2 years and sinks an already unraisable stick.
If this plays out as I expect, any guesses on what the GOOG open would be on monday?
Victor - any ideas?
disclaimer: long on GOOG, no positions on MSFT/YHOO
I still can't believe Ballmer think its company can take on Google without Yahoo's help, my misjudgment indeed.
How many of you think that Ballmer will come back to court Yahoo again?
We need to hear the whole story from Yahoo's side...now.
If Yahoo brought this upon themselves not only have they wrecked their fragile eco-system, they have acquired a great deal of scorn, litigation and ridicule in one fell swoop.
Jerry: Save your stock. Use Google. Fire your entire ads team, and differentiate yourself based on quality services like Yahoo finance.
5-3-08: After three months of haggling, the Microsoft and Yahoo saga finally came to an end with Microsoft opting to walk. Microsoft was willing to pay $33, but Yahoo wanted $37. You would think they could simply decide to go. read more at
http://ibooyah.com/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=yahoo
Yahoo's press release:
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=308131
They are clearly delusional. Let's see publically all the shareholder support for leaving $33/share on the table! Bill Miller of Legg Mason seemed pretty happy with 31-32/share in his last comments..
If they have anything to say about Google or anything else up their sleeves they better put out a better release than that one before monday morning!
I... like tons of shareholders I've come in contact with would have jumped at $33/share. OK... I need to go throw up now.
Now they finally did "Yahoo'd" will forever be known as the new term for "Fuck'd"
Please excuse my French.
Oh, and drop the bah-humbugs and later don't say you weren't told. Tell your stockbroker what to do instead of him telling you like I did.
Obviously, it wasn't the small price difference, but the GOOG deal, that did it.
Boy does Jerry have an "interesting" few months coming up.
It is unlikely MSFT will give up as the next product cycle is Mobile search. Yhoo has strategic partnerships, which, are 'need' and 'want' for MSFT.
This is not the end. But the end of the begining.
For that reason, and if the pending GOOG/YHOO ad deal happens, I don’t think this deal EVER comes back to life.
Get out now before the stock hits $15!!!
Who thinks GOOG=800 by 09'
and 1000, by 2010???
thoughts?
MSFT=dead
Yhoo=saved by Google
Goog=the almight king.
I do feel for the avg person that has shares in YHOO. Share price will erode. Yhoo must go forawrd with goog now and sell their soul as mentioned last week. Was that just hardball...well gotta do it now.
I think we all know what a good swift punch in the c$ck feels like. I sure do! SO YHOO shareholders get out the ice bags.
I am long msft. Yes yes we all know GOOG is number one and may shorten their symbol to g.o.d ( no offence to any religious people out their hence the small g) but there is STILL growth potential for MSFT. They can put $50 billion towards that!.
Well i wish averyone the best in making their personal fortune in this market!
Ballmer is a tool, this guy has no idea of the new age. you heard it here first, GOOG to 1000 by 2010.
I do feel for the avg person that has shares in YHOO. Share price will erode. Yhoo must go forawrd with goog now and sell their soul as mentioned last week. Was that just hardball...well gotta do it now.
I think we all know what a good swift punch in the c$ck feels like. I sure do! SO YHOO shareholders get out the ice bags.
I am long msft. Yes yes we all know GOOG is number one and may shorten their symbol to g.o.d ( no offence to any religious people out their hence the small g) but there is STILL growth potential for MSFT. They can put $50 billion towards that!.
Well i wish averyone the best in making their personal fortune in this market!
Well, I cannot judge what Steve did. because he wants to buy Yahoo for the good of Microsoft but Yahoo asked for more than MS is willing to pay. It is simple.
I think Yahoo stock will not go down that much. In the first day. some of the shorts will try to nail it down but should go up again.
Yahoo will be in much better position now than pre-MS-Buying-it era.
I think MS is still interested to buy Yahoo and who knows. Yahoo might come in few days/weeks and accept MS offer WHEN MSFT Stock is higher so the aquistion is cheaper for MS.
MS did a great favor to Yahoo even if it does not buy it....
We can just wait and see what the Real Monkey boy does..
Peace.
Well, I cannot judge what Steve did. because he wants to buy Yahoo for the good of Microsoft but Yahoo asked for more than MS is willing to pay. It is simple.
I think Yahoo stock will not go down that much. In the first day. some of the shorts will try to nail it down but should go up again.
Yahoo will be in much better position now than pre-MS-Buying-it era.
I think MS is still interested to buy Yahoo and who knows. Yahoo might come in few days/weeks and accept MS offer WHEN MSFT Stock is higher so the aquistion is cheaper for MS.
MS did a great favor to Yahoo even if it does not buy it....
We can just wait and see what the Real Monkey boy does..
Peace.
personally, while i think yhoo would have been good for msft, they offer was too high, and in the end, msft did the right thing. always better to walk away and to miss a deal then to stay, buy and suffer the concequences of a deal gone bad.
lets say msft didn't walk and negotians continued, yhoo woould probably only edge up a bit on monday.
with msft walking, everyone is expecting the stock to go down the teens.
well, if you've been around long enough and are active in the markets like i am, then you know that when everyone thinks a stock, 'has to go to x' it rarely does.
i predict that the smart shorts will make money, but not the killing they thought.
i see yhoo hitting support at 22-24. it may briefly visit lower prices to check if there are any momo shorts ready to hitch a ride, but i think it will settle in the low to mid 20s.
UNLESS.......yhoo moves ahead with the goog alliance. then i see the stock pretty much staying were it is, up or down a buck.
you're talking about a company that can barely grow the top line in an exploding industry...\
this thing treads in the mid-high teens after getting a temporary bump from the goog deal
As I told Henry a while ago after the absurd Comscore release, those who bought GOOG at $450 were going to be very happy with that decision. I hope you listened Herr Blodget.
And to anyone surprised at Microsoft for not going hostile? No-brainer: I predicted it here a few days ago (don't feel like linking to myself but maybe someone reading this saw that comment, too) and I even explained why. Negotiation for something this important to someone (Ballmer) is similar to a romantic pursuit, and to do it right, you have to move carefully or you'll never get what you want. Ballmer knows this. Almost no one ever talks about it but he just made almost the same proposal to Yahoo! about this time last year, and this might not be the last time he pushes it, but even if it is he walks away for now looking gentlemanly and leaves Microsoft's reputation and dignity more or less intact, save the air of desperation that will linger over them now like day old garbage.
If you know anything about Ballmer (and honestly I don't, just what I read here and on a few other blogs) you know he will never let a deal this important to him resolve into an ugly, toxic, reputation-ruining battle.
This deal has forced YHOO to evaluate all its strategic alternatives and focus on improving their monetization by signing up a deal with GOOG. I expect them to announce something soon. This will cause GOOG to get stronger and YHOO become a stronger number 2 in search. MSFT would be a distant thirst and worse off than their original position.
Any bounce in MSFT stock would be short-lived because by walking from the deal, they are just trading short term comfort, with a gaping hole in its long term strategy. Unless MSFT acts aggressively, it would end up like a 10-15 PE dividend yielding tech stock like IBM in a couple of years.
I get really annoyed where most of people focus on one side of the story and forget the other. The ball is in Yahoo's court, Neither MS or Yahoo rejected the acquistion because they do not want it to happen, The issue was Price. and Price will be solved when Yahoo stock sink and MS stock jump, at that Point, MS Can pay 50 B. easliy considering the offer was half cash/half stock.
I am not saying MS is buying Yahoo or not. I am just assuming this Walk-away aint permanent, Yahoo can accept the offer later on.... Who knows..
This antipathy is of course the reason why the merger would have been a colossal failure in the first place. I am kind of sad, as the destruction of Flickr was a small price to pay for an acceleration in Microsoft's demise.
Microsoft CEO Ballmer said the software giant decided to walk away from a bid because Yahoo would become 'undesirable' if it formed an alliance with Google.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/03/news/companies/google.msft.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008050323
Check out more details of analysis at:
http://smaniyar.blogspot.com/2008/05/yahoo-microsoft-m-analysis.html
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I don't know a single employee who would be angered by being bought by Microsoft, except for a few "hardcore" engineers. Every other employee would have been ecstatic with $35.
We missed out on a lot, the options/RSUs, our ESPP bump, severance plan, and probably Microsoft was going to give us a retention bonus as well.
Thanks alot Jerry.
What do they become then, message board operators? Content providers? News aggregators?
This is incredible. As a combined entity with Microsoft they would have been able to confront Google. Now Google becomes number one for the next couple of generations at least.
Yahoo! got played by Google's sweet ad deal and a HUGE dose of naivete on the part of Yang.
I believe in the end it was his inability to see outside the culture of Sunnyvale/Redwood City/Palo Alto.
Too far in the forest........
What do they become then, message board operators? Content providers? News aggregators?
This is incredible. As a combined entity with Microsoft they would have been able to confront Google. Now Google becomes number one for the next couple of generations at least.
Yahoo! got played by Google's sweet ad deal and a HUGE dose of naivete on the part of Yang.
I believe in the end it was his inability to see outside the culture of Sunnyvale/Redwood City/Palo Alto.
Too far in the forest........
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/05/04/ballmer-avoids-his-aol-time-warner-cant-find-his-myspace?addComment=true
http://ibooyah.com/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=yahoo
Microsoft "polluted" Java.
Now Google, run by ex-Sun exec Dr. Schmidt, pollutes Yahoo! via the ad deal.
This thwarted a plan for Microsoft itself to pollute Yahoo! mail so it can tie-in on-line Office applications. (I'm guessing this would have been the FTC/Hart Scott Rodino issue resulting in the need to spin-off Yahoo! mail, possibly to Google to merge with g mail).
(Thanks SAI for up-to-the-minute-ness of your blog.)
1)