Yahoo! Dodges The Bullet

Microsoft has receded it’s bid for Yahoo! in a surprise Saturday (May 3, 2008) announcement. When presented with offering more money or engaging in a hostel take-over, Microsoft decided to take a third route and just drop the whole thing. In a letter addressed to Yahoo! (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.mspx), Microsoft outlined several reasons why they let the offer slip. There are concerns that a deal between Yahoo! and Google would seriously throw a monkey wrench into things and regulatory bodies, the EU in particular, would frown upon the transaction. As expected the share price for Yahoo! dropped to its pre-bid price during Monday trading.

From an outside perspective this feels better than having a nasty fight between Yahoo! and Microsoft. It looks like Yahoo! made themselves undesirable enough that Microsoft just decided to let the whole thing go. Is this the last that we will hear about a Yahoo!-Microsoft merger, most likely not. If Yahoo’s share price slips considerably in the next few years I would expect Microsoft to smell the blood again make another bid. At any rate I am sure that this episode has scared the pants off of many at Yahoo! and it will not be as easy next time, especially if an outside entity tries to mount a hostel take-over. Sometimes fear is a good thing and a great motivational tool that spurs new innovation. Perhaps some of the folks over in the Messenger division got a little fear and will release some nice upgrades.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2...5-03letter.mspx
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8708
http://unsakred.net/2008/05/04/microsoft-w...-bid-for-yahoo/

 

 

 

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I don’t think the owners of Yahoo! ever considered selling to Microsoft. They simply heard the offer because they had to and because of share holders. I (not invested in Yahoo!) like the fact that Microsoft didn't buy Yahoo! It seems like Microsoft messes up everything it gets a hold of. That is just my opinion. I hope that Yahoo! starts to offer more things to people for free (ex. POP3 email) a few changes could set them in front of other email providers such as MSN. But people may soon move from Yahoo! and MSN to Google. After all if it wasn't for Yahoo! Finance I would no longer need a Yahoo! account and just a Google account. I just hope that Yahoo! comes out of its finance trouble. It would really show Microsoft that they haven’t taken over the web just yet.

My Opinion,
Sparkx

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Well, this sounds like good news. And only the other day Microsoft was saying that if Yahoo weren't going to sell at the price MS said, they were going to the shareholders (sorry don't have a quote on that, I read it in the paper)

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I am not so sure Dodging the bullet is therm I would have used given the way thier shares slipped afterwards. Personally if I were a shareholder I would want then to sell to MS.

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The shares “slumping” after the offer was taken off the table is just hype. They returned to the same price that they were before Microsoft made the offer. This is completely expected and only the media trying to make a story. If you are an investor in Yahoo!, you have seen no net difference in your portfolio between January 1st and today. Stocks can fluctuate wildly in the short term but usually remain stable in the long term. This is why you should always think about investments as a process that takes at least 5 years and not 5 days.

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