Yahoo! Inc., owner of the second most used Internet search engine, rejected a $44.6 billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. as too low, pressuring the world's largest software maker to raise its bid.
After evaluating the proposal, the board unanimously concluded that the proposal didn't adequately compensate shareholders for Yahoo's global brand, large audience and future growth prospects, and that it undervalues Yang's company.. according to a Yahoo statement.
Microsoft later said in statement late Monday that it was “unfortunate” that Yahoo had not embraced its offer, and reiterated that it may “pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.”
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technorati tags: yahoo, microsoft
Yahoo to Microsoft's offer -- it's not enough!
No Need for Google to Fret, Says Analysts
So far the most talked about news on the internet lately is about the possible merger of Microsoft and Yahoo!, with the former offering to buy the latter for around $44.6 billion to better compete with Google in the market for online services. "Google doesn't have to do much. It is that far ahead," says Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. Google's share of Internet searches is nearly 60% in the U.S. — about twice the combined total of Yahoo and Microsoft, according to estimates from market researchers. At the same time, Google commands more than 40% of worldwide online ad sales. Combined, Yahoo and Microsoft are less than 25%. Microsoft's Online Services group lost $537 million last year, while increasing ad sales a tepid 7%.
But Analysts says big G can take time responding to 'Yahoosoft,' and that there is no immediate pressure for Google to act boldly.
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technorati tags: google, microsoft yahoo merger
Yahoo To Support OpenID Standard
Yahoo announced Thursday that it is supporting the OpenID standard for a universal Internet log-in. Once the new Yahoo ID service is live, people with a Yahoo user name and password will be able to use that ID information to access non-Yahoo Web sites that support the OpenID 2.0 digital identity framework, reducing the amount of different log-in information people need to create, remember and enter online.
Yahoo’s 248 million users worldwide is a huge addition to the current OpenID members which is just around 120 million OpenID accounts so far. OpenID is designed to facilitate single log-ins for multiple unaffiliated Web sites. Gradually, large sites like AOL and Plaxo have begun supporting the standard, but it remains a tool for the Web's early-adopter set rather than the online community at large.
Yahoo launches its OpenID in public beta form on January 30.
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technorati tags: yahoo, OpenID, OpenID 2.0
Yahoo! Mail and Messenger Together
Have you checked your Yahoo! mail? I checked mine this morning to see if my webhost received the payment for my hosting plan, and was surprised with the opening message saying - "Yahoo! Mail and Messenger Together!"
So Yahoo finally combined two of it's most popular web services. The look of yahoo mail is also different.. there is a home tab (I don't know if the old interface have those before, but I just noticed it now) which is similar to Yahoo's main site, a tab for your email messages, and additional tab for your Yahoo Messenger, so no more downloads and setup needed. Add to that the usual calendar, notepad, contacts and RSS feed reader.. and Yahoo Mail users will have lots of ways to easily organize and communicate with friends. So, have you checked your Yahoo! mail? What's your say on it?
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technorati tags: yahoo mail, yahoo messenger, combined mail and messenger
The Three Kings (of web search) charged of illegal gambling... ads.
The Three Kings (i'm calling them that in the spirit of the Holiday season) of web search namely - King Microsoft, King Yahoo, and King Google were charged by the US Justice Department of taking money by accepting illegal gambling advertisements from online betting operations between 1997 and 2007.
The companies agreed to pay a total $31.5 million to settle claims by the Justice Department. Being the most generous(?) and oldest among the trio, Micro$oft paid $21 million. Next to seniority is Yahoo contributing $7.5 million. While this "startup" company they called Google gave $3 million.
The money collected will be used as a fund by the US government for various public awareness programs. Now the (31.5 million dollar) question is, how much money did these three search giants earned when they placed those illegal ads for ten years? <*wink*><*wink*>
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technorati tags: illegal gambling ads, microsoft, yahoo, google, illegal ads