
AOL Attempting to Buy Yahoo  - lotusleaf1987
http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/aol-yahoo-acquisition/
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nkassis
In this case I really think the sum might end up being greater than the parts.
I don't how them merging would be worse than both of them on their own. Yahoo
has good engineering talent, AOL has some decent content. They feel
complimentary to me.

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ashishb4u
Yahoo is actually trying to avoid the takeover.
[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-14/yahoo-said-to-
work-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-14/yahoo-said-to-work-with-
goldman-sachs-to-defend-against-possible-takeovers.html)

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coryl
Hmm, if AOL and Yahoo somehow did merge, that would mean Techcrunch would
belong to Yahoo.

Would TC still trash Yahoo in their articles?

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shimonamit
Not in the same tone. Certainly not after Arrington's incentivized stay period
is up.

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olegkikin
There's just no way AOL can buy Yahoo. It's impossible.

YHOO: 20.56 billion

AOL: 2.70 billion

Plus AOL is not doing well. They are losing 20-30% of revenues every year for
the last 4 years.

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bl4k
Subtract Yahoo's stake in Alibaba from the cap and it becomes $10B. Strip a
few more assets and it suddenly becomes viable.

AOL have $2.7B in revenue, that combined with an injection of money from a
hedge fund or two make an LBO (leveraged buyout) very viable. AOL and the
hedge funds would only need to put up $500M-$1B

They would reverse-merge Yahoo into AOL, and I have a feeling that the market
cap of the new entity would be greater than the sum of its parts.

AOL + Yahoo would become the largest content provider on the web, with a
global audience. Throw in an ad company or two and you have a good business
(and a business with a purpose, unlike Y! atm).

~~~
jacquesm
> AOL and the hedge funds would only need to put up $500M-$1B

That's an interesting use of the word 'only' :)

I agree it is a possibility though, but such mergers usually don't work out
well in the long run because of conflicting priorities.

It's amazing how much staying power these 'old giants' have, it would not
surprise me at all if it did happen but I'm more skeptical about the aftermath
of such a merger.

One thing is for sure, lots of people will lose their jobs. That seems to be
the one constant when big companies merge.

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bl4k
'only' being relative :)

And you bet there would be layoffs if this happens.

I think the chances of it happening are slim though. They rejected $40B from
MSFT, they would look really stupid to accept half of that now (personally I
think they should have accepted the MSFT deal, I owned stock at the time)

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bigbang
An accurate title should be :

"AOL Inc. and several private-equity firms are exploring making an offer to
buy Yahoo Inc."

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nodata
Better get that field full of rakes ready.

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stretchwithme
weak x weak = won't last a week

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jacquesm
They've been lasting for a very long time already, what makes you say that?

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stretchwithme
most acquisitions fail and AOL has pretty disastrous recent experience with
Bebo.

[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aol-loses-11-billion-on-
res...](http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aol-loses-11-billion-on-
restructuring-costs-2010-08-04?reflink=MW_news_stmp)

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jwegan
Both companies have had a rocky ride the past two decades. At least this
merger makes more sense than the AOL Time Warner fiasco.

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drgath
Past 2 decades? Yahoo is only 15 years old and was (arguably) the king of the
web until '03 or so. The financial slide didn't start until 2 or 3 years ago
after a respectable dot-bomb recovery.

