

Yahoo tells Microsoft: 'Buy us' - habs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7712298.stm

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mdasen
Yahoo was a good company, but they missed their mark. Ironically, it wasn't
Yang's fault. His predecessor who decided that Yahoo should be a media company
(ala AOL) rather than a tech company (ala Google) screwed it up. So, the
technology languished as they tried to throw poorly construed media at people.
Only problem is that isn't profitable. Tech is.

So, now Yahoo either has to spend a ton to catch up with a company (Google)
that shows no signs of slowing down or combine forces with another tech firm
(Microsoft) who might be able to eek out something. Neither looks promising,
but one definitely looks better.

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thomasmallen
I do like Yahoo Sports though. I always go there for stats because the ESPN
pages take so damn long to load. If sports fans benefit, then they've done
well!

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angstrom
Never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is
this: never go in against Microsoft when time is on the line.

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gaius
If I were MS I'd have some fun with this. Offer $5/share and wait for the
market to catch up.

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nazgulnarsil
that might be illegal even though it shouldn't be.

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arien
Uff. Is Yahoo now banging their heads against the wall for not accepting the
deal the first time? And is Microsoft drooling at this 50%~ sale on Yahoo's
price?

Waiting for the next chapter of this soap opera...

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paraschopra
Yahoo, please decide what you really want to do in life! You are being
extremely fickle minded. Arghh..

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greyman
Agree. The main problem of Yahoo is, that they do not own any substantial
technology where they would have competitive edge. Google has search, MS has
windows and office, but what Y! has? None of their web products are essential.
Well..ok, I use flickr and delicious, but those are not big money makers.

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jhancock
I think the last chapter reads: "The smart money always knows when to sell."

Jerry Yang is a great American entrepreneur, but he did miss the mark by a
wide margin on this.

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wensing
_"The smart money always knows when to sell."_

Does that say anything about Zuckerberg?

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jhancock
I'm sure Zuckerberg is a hard working and smart guy. But if Yahoo didn't know
when to sell, I seriously doubt someone with Zuckerberg's limited experience
does.

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wensing
Yeah, I wouldn't argue with the hard working and smart part. And also, I'm
sure if you let anything go to your head, you'll end up missing the best deal.
I suppose you could argue that nothing went to his head and he just had a
great rational argument for why Facebook is worth so much.

Makes me wonder what his advisers were telling him when he was offered the Y!
deal.

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prakash
This is the worst time to sell, and the best time to buy.

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markessien
He's just trying to drive the share price back up.

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maien
he is offering to sell because Yang knows it is only going to get worse and
lower. and he is still making more to sell now then later.

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tahir
If MS ends up buying Yahoo, what will happen to Zimbra?

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asnyder
It'll die a slow and horrible death? They'll probably convert Zimbra users to
some flavor of Exchange Online. If they're smart, they'll find someway to
incorporate Zimbra into their Exchange suite.

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lionhearted
Does anyone else think he sounds like a tool? Maybe the article quoted him out
of context, but... "They walked away from a public offering and we were ready
to negotiate. We wanted to negotiate a deal. We felt we weren't that far
apart. At the end of the day, they withdrew and they have since been clear
about not wanting to buy the company," "Buying AOL? I can't talk about that,
John. If I told you I would have to kill you." Mr Yang said he was
"disappointed that they [Google] didn't want to defend this deal." "So I
clearly don't agree with what the viewpoint is, but they are the government
and they can decide on these things." You know what quote I didn't see? "WE
MASSIVELY SCREWED UP AND ARE WORKING ON IT" ---> Which is what everyone
thinks... if they came out and said it, then put out a cohesive-seeming
turnaround plan I reckon much good would come of it. Criticizing other company
for not buying your company that lost half its market value, criticizing the
larger profitable player who almost wrote you a billion dollar check for not
fighting hard enough for it, criticizing the government... not so much good
there.

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okeumeni
Too late!

