A lot of action has happened since Mid March in the Microsoft's boxing match to acquire Yahoo!. Here are the 5 key events as we all wait for the final result.
1) March 18 Yahoo! filed an investor presentation that stated a 3 year plan of solid expectations on revenue and growth -- if the company remained on its own. "the Company’s three-year financial plan and strategic initiatives which are expected to roughly double operating cash flow over the next three years from $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion and generate $8.8 billion in revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (revenue ex-TAC) in 2010.
" Dear Members of the Board:
It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy.
While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. "
3) April 9 WSJ reported that an AOL-Yahoo! merger was inching close to finalization.
"Yahoo Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL are closing in on a deal to combine their Internet operations, a move aimed at thwarting Microsoft Corp.'s effort to acquire Yahoo, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday....
Under the terms being discussed between Yahoo and Time Warner, the latter would fold its AOL unit into Yahoo and make a cash investment in return for about 20% of the combined entity, people familiar with the situation said. The deal, which wouldn't include AOL's dial-up access business, would value AOL at about $10 billion. As part of the deal, Yahoo would use the Time Warner cash and additional funds to buy back several billion dollars worth of its own stock at a price somewhere in the middle of the range between $30 and $40 a share, the people said."
4) April 9 Yahoo! started a 2 week test of Google's AdSense in its own Search Results.
"Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - News), a leading global Internet company, announced today that it will begin a limited test of Google Inc.'s AdSense for Search service, which will deliver relevant Google ads alongside Yahoo!'s own search results. The test will apply only to traffic from yahoo.com in the U.S. and will not include Yahoo!'s extended network of affiliate or premium publisher partners. The test is expected to last up to two weeks and will be limited to no more than 3% of Yahoo! search queries"
5) April 10 NYT reported that NewsCorp (MySpace owner) and Microsoft planned to join hands to bid for Yahoo!
"Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is in talks with Microsoft about joining in its contested bid for Yahoo, according to people involved in the discussions. The combination, which would join Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN and News Corporation’s MySpace, would create a behemoth that would upend the Internet landscape."
Summary
The wait continues, as Steve Ballmer started expressing his frustration by starting to joke about Yahoo!'s search share:
"Speaking to a group of nearly 2,000 Microsoft enthusiasts at a technology conference in Seattle, Ballmer asked how many people use Yahoo as their primary Web search engine.
Only a handful of arms went up -- fewer than for Microsoft's Windows Live search. The overwhelming majority raised their hands for Google Inc, which Microsoft is seeking to challenge as an online advertising powerhouse.
After the tepid response for Yahoo's search, Ballmer said jokingly: "Wow! We offered 31 bucks a share.""
» Y! has a modest Q1, Microsoft says no change in Price from TheBizofCoding
Yahoo! posted a modest Q1 2008 (PDF) with Revenue of $ 1.86 9% higher than $ 1.67 same time last year. Profits were higher though not directly from Yahoo! operations. For Q1 2008 Yahoo!'s profits were $542 million compared to $142 last... [Read More]
Tracked on: April 24, 2008 2:02 PM | Permalink to Trackback