Tech News: February 2008 Archives

I seem to have too many Yahoo! related posts lately - well, they have been in hot news.

Today was the spooky day people have been waiting for.  About 1000 Yahoos were laid off, including Salim Ismail, head of the Brickhouse division, which reviews internally submitted ideas by Yahoo! employees and turns some of them into products.  Ismail says he volunteered to take the layoff package and go.  Not a bad choice:  He has reviewed about 3000 ideas at Yahoo! and has some thoughts on what startup to build.  More on TechCrunch.

Last but not Least, Yahoo! will launch a new product in Q2: oneConnect - a mobile social application built around user's phone address book or contact list.  Not much details are given, but users can get updates from various social networks to their contact lists, they can get the latest updates (like the Facebook Minifeed) on their cell phone, etc.  Once again - like the yahoo.com portal - Yahoo wants to be the user's starting point, this time on the cell phone.  If anybody is capable of doing that, it's them.

Here's the oneConnect site - also see the TechCrunch coverage.

After much speculation and informal rumors, Yahoo! filed their BOD response with SEC today:

Sunnyvale, Calif., February 11, 2008 -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today said the Yahoo! Board of Directors has carefully reviewed Microsoft's unsolicited proposal with Yahoo!'s management team and financial and legal advisors and has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders.

After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft's proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments. The Board of Directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., Lehman Brothers and Moelis & Company are acting as financial advisors to Yahoo!. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal advisor to Yahoo!, and Munger Tolles & Olson LLP is acting as counsel to the outside directors of Yahoo!.

Well, today's news is too big to ignore.  Microsoft wants to acquire Yahoo! again.  This time it's different though:  Yahoo! is suffering, their outlook is not good, and Jerry Yang did not convince anybody that he's really doing something about it.

So what's the deal?  $31 per share or $44.6B total valuation for Yahoo!.  That's way more than what market closed on yesterday.  So my guess?  This time Yahoo! will take it.  It's to their benefit - things do not look good and there's no light at the end of the tunnel.  They know that they have lost the war to Google, and this is their only chance of changing the game.  A combined Microsoft + Yahoo! will have a large impact on the competition, numbers say.

Also see Steve Balmer's memo to Microsoft employees on the subject.