It’s IT Blogwatch: in which we follow the latest twists and turns in the Yahoo/Microsoft/Google saga. Not to mention a curious Victorian English rapper…
Elizabeth Montalbano and Juan Carlos Perez tag-team:
Yahoo Inc. has ended its talks with Microsoft Corp. about a deal narrower in scope than a full acquisition … Instead, Yahoo is nearing an agreement with Google Inc. involving its search advertising business … Yahoo said it has concluded talks with Microsoft because Microsoft was only interested in purchasing Yahoo’s search business, not all of the company … Microsoft confirmed that it was not interested in rebidding for all of Yahoo, but had been seeking an “alternative transaction” that it believed would bring Yahoo shareholders more than $33 per share … Yahoo and Google had also been in talks about a search-advertising deal for several months, a deal that Microsoft cited as one of its primary reasons for ending its acquisition bid. more
Mathew Ingram adds:
If you smell anything wafting from Yahoos headquarters in Sunnyvale, it could be the rising stench of desperation. Unable to conclude a deal with Microsoft for a variety of reasons that range from bizarre to ridiculous the faded Internet giant has been reduced to signing a deal with Google to take over some of the advertising on its Web properties … like Ford signing a deal to have its cars built by Honda … It is, effectively, an admission of failure a failure to monetize its own assets properly, and ultimately a failure to compete in search period. more
Owen Thomas has news of a high-flying departure:
It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to catch up with Google in online advertising. And yet, for years, that’s who Yahoo’s put on the job: Usama Fayyad, a veteran of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We hear Fayyad is on his way out as Yahoo’s “chief data officer,” the man tasked with extracting value from the massive amount of data generated by Yahoo’s users. Fayyad has long talked about how Yahoo can, in theory, extract insights from this data. “In theory” being Yahoo’s eternal problem. more
Kara Swisher, too:
Jeff Weiner … will be leaving Yahoo (YHOO) to become an entrepreneur in residence at both Accel Partners and Greylock Partners … Weiners departure gives President Sue Decker the ability to more dramatically rejigger Yahoos top echelons to better focus the company on its stated objectives of becoming the premier ad network and a consumer starting point. more
Methinks Jeremy Zawodny doth protest too much:
In the next few weeks, I’ll walk the halls at Yahoo! as an employee one last time and turn in my purple badge. After 8.5 years of service and a better experience than I could have possibly imaged back in 1999, the time for me to move on has arrived … I won’t at all be surprised if some people think this is related to Microsoft or Carl Ichan and the uncertainty surrounding Yahoo’s future. The reality is that there’s nothing pushing me out the door at Yahoo. The reason I’m leaving is that something very compelling has come along to lure me away. Despite what the current press sentiment might be, Jerry and David have built a remarkable company. more
JR Conlin, too:
After nine and a half years, i decided to try my hand somewhere else. Let me get the obvious things out of the way … This has nothing to do with the “challenging times” Yahoo is supposed to be facing, nor with anyone there, nor with Carl Icahn … Yahoo is on the right path to succeed, is making good progress … there are reasons i’m leaving that are personal, and you’ll never find out what they are. more
Andrea Orr asks what now for Microsoft:
The software giant had shown its hand from the moment it offered to pay $45 billion to buy Yahoo! in what would have been the largest high-tech deal ever. Companies don’t offer to part with that sort of dough on a whim. In pursuing Yahoo!, Microsoft was coming to terms with the fact that it had failed — after years of trying — to build a leading search service on its own. In walking away from the deal, but never quite letting go after almost five months of speculation, Microsoft publicized that weakness for all to see … The statement Microsoft issued announcing that the acquisition talks were really, really over this time was strangely terse, and just as strangely inconclusive. more
Ian Lamont, late of this parish, ponders the statement:
Negotiations by press release can be tricky … Microsoft’s brief statement about Yahoo on the same day made pains to say it’s still interested in something … “Our alternative transaction” could only be the behind-the-scenes proposal made in mid-May, apparently for Yahoo’s search business. Of course, that’s no longer possible from Yahoo’s point of view. Not only did Yang et al reject a spinoff outright in Yahoo’s announcement on Thursday, but also the company has other big plans for search … If that’s not a clear enough “no” to Microsoft, Yahoo has also agreed to a poison pill provision in the ad deal — a $250 million “termination fee,” payable to Google, “if the agreement is terminated as a result of a change in control that occurs within 24 months.”
Author: Richie Jennings