Yahoo! reportedly in talks with News Corp.

Yahoo! News ^ | 13 Feb 2008 | No Byline

[The Pack Knight]

Yahoo! Inc., fighting off a takeover bid from Microsoft Corp., is in talks with News Corp., according to a report on The Wall Street Journal's web site.

The talks, according to the Journal, are an attempt to fend off Microsoft's offer, which was initially valued at $44.6 billion.

For many, Yahoo! has come to symbolize the Web. Its playful name and colorful logo defined Internet style, and its signature yodel was a siren song for people who were curious about a new media known as "the World Wide Web."

Created in 1994 by a pair of Stanford graduate students as a simple directory of interesting Web sites, Yahoo! went public early in 1996. It was valued at $848 million after its first day of trading despite widespread suspicion about the viability of advertising-supported Web sites.

But the company quickly disproved naysayers by attracting mainstream advertisers and turning a profit.

Yahoo! capitalized on the rapidly growing interest in the Internet, offering news, financial information, television listings, games, and other content, plus services such as e-mail, web-hosting, shopping and community sites.

But Yahoo!'s stock price had dropped by more than 40 percent in the three months leading up to Microsoft's bid, which was announced Feb. 1. The offer was 62 percent above Yahoo's market value at the time.

[The Pack Knight]

Now this is an interesting turn of events. News Corp potentially outbidding Microsoft? Not to mention, doing so this soon after purchasing Dow Jones.

[SevenofNine]

That funny

[maine-iac7]

I just don't want my Yahoo! interfered with!

They have the best, by very far, email system - complete with the best scam detector/dumper system (don't even get into my 'in box', best virus protector FREE (Norton - I used to pay $30 a year for that) -

my "My Yahoo!" page which gives me my backyard weather (which today, I don't appreciate - car covered in another foot of rain-soaked snow, freezing up - ) my Yahoo! calendar that also works as my free secretary: I can schedule b'days. appointments, TV shows, etc - for one time or any combination - and tell it when to remind me, which it will do at 2 separate times and thru' 2 channels - a pop-up and an email...etc etc

Leave my YAHOO! alone!

[Bailee]

let the Price war begin. MSFT needs YHOO badly to compete with the new 800ton gorilla GOOG.

Looking for 35$ per share personally.

[Uncle Hal]

News Corp. is much smaller than Yahoo. This is going to be hard for them to absorb the Whole company. My guess is Murdoch is kicking the tires.

[newzjunkey]

Not very inspiring but it isn’t Microsoft and that’s a major bonus.

[rurgan]

” They have the best, by very far, email system - complete with the best scam detector/dumper system (don’t even get into my ‘in box’, best virus protector FREE (Norton - I used to pay $30 a year for that) -

my “My Yahoo!” page which gives me my backyard weather (which today, I don’t appreciate - car covered in another foot of rain-soaked snow, freezing up - ) my Yahoo! calendar that also works as my free secretary: I can schedule b’days. appointments, TV shows, etc - for one time or any combination - and tell it when to remind me, which it will do at 2 separate times and thru’ 2 channels - a pop-up and an email...etc etc”

Wave goodbye to all that if Microsoft takes over yahoo. They ruined operating systems with Vista.

[dan1123]

Wave goodbye to all that if Microsoft takes over yahoo.

Yeah, I wonder how Yahoo! will be integrated with Live. I personally hope they kill off Live in favor of Yahoo. I think instead they will just slap the Yahoo! brand on all their Live products and leave it to Google and Ask to grab up all the disaffected users.

[Grampa Dave]

Well this is interesting.

If MS buys Yahoo, I will find another internet service.

[abb]

I have been a stockholder of YHOO for almost ten years. In that time, I have just about doubled my money at today’s closing price. Obviously, there were several chances over the past where I ‘should have’ gotten out. But I’m by nature a long term buy-and-hold investor and I’m not particularly upset about the lost opportunity.

But what does make me mad is that YHOO management GAVE AWAY their prime position as number one search engine for several years. They flat gave it away to Google. There’s no excuse for that kind of stupidity.

[Grampa Dave]

“They flat gave it away to Google. There’s no excuse for that kind of stupidity.”

Actions like that go beyond stupidity. What really happened?

[abb]

I don’t know. I suppose they thought the future of the internet was as an aggregator/destination instead of as the search engine of choice. Obviously the wrong decision.

[Grampa Dave]

Over the years, I have seen and heard of a few deals like what was posted by you.

They seemed to be backdoor deals with former employees or “friends”. These backdoor deals often made the former employees or “friends” very rich for very small investments if any.