Microsoft poses ultimatum if Yahoo doesn't come quietly
By Paul Miller 
posted Apr 5th 2008 1:44PM
posted Apr 5th 2008 1:44PM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
First comment!!!
Microsoft is becoming a monopoly IMO.
shut up tard there is already to much competition in the market for this to be a monopolistic move. its merely a good business move on microsoft's part
Good for who? I hope Microsoft keeps their money grubbing hands off Yahoo!
Good for us, since we will get to watch the fight.
I just recently spoke with a fellow a couple of weeks ago who lives in my area and happens to work at Yahoo. He told me that Microsoft's buyout/takeover/whatever you want to call it, was a "done deal".
The way that Engadget relayed it, is exactly what he happened to say: they'll elect new directors who will approve the buyout; but they'll also sweet-talk and offer money to everyone else (who they feel they need to) to get them to go along with it all, and that will be the end of it.
I've always thought, Microsoft is so big - it's a monster - that it's never a question of "if", but only "when" will they get what they want.
What will be even more interesting to witness than this whole takeover process, is how Microsoft will fumble around clumsily for two or three years as they manage to merge or integrate their newly acquired assets. Really makes me curious as to what their whole game plan is and how they're going to leverage it all against Google or whomever else they're targeting.
Oh yeah, and, *love* the photo, LOL.
Best. Picture. Ever.
Totally.Agreed.
simon. get a. haircut. please.
Well I can see how great it'll be for everyone to set yet another precedent of 'if I don't get what I want, when and how I want it, I'll go behind your back and force your hand'. It's the same negotiating tactics a 5-year old uses - 'find the enabler'...
No offense, Chicksta, but your analogy does not fit. A public traded company is just that, public (if at least 50.1% of voting shares are "out and about" in the world).
Yahoo is such a company. Therefore, it is a courteous gesture to go to the present board of directors first, but it is by no means necessary. Objectively, it would be entirely appropiate to bring the offer first to the collective 50.1% investors since they, by virtue of that .1%, are the true owners of the company.
Think back to the "hostile take-overs" of the eighties. They were given a black eye by conventional wisdom, but CW is sometimes made up and believed by people who have no clue how something actually works.
They took the courteous, but not required*, route; now they are taking their case to the true owners of the company... the people.
(* laws might have chnaged since the eighties; neverthless, the collective group of people known as its' investors are the true owners of Yahoo)
This isn't going behind their back. The board does not get to make decisions with impunity, it represents millions of stockholders. But I guess you with your idiot analogies also believe that 'consent of the governed' and 'democracy' are overrated too.
Not sure I agree but I'm still down for dinner. Chotchkie's or Flingers?
I agree with you Chicksta. After all, Microsoft should not be engaged in monopolistic practices.
"...It's the same negotiating tactics a 5-year old uses..."
I remember the last time my five year old went behind my back by sending an open letter that threatened to go directly to my shareholders and let them decide on a takeover. I was so mad.
The bitches be behavin' like superdelegates.
@Josh
At a 62% premium I think Yahoo! is the one with money grubbing hands.
In other news, I still can't reply!
Not to mention the bill and melinda gates foundation...
if you click the date on the post, you can reply
I loved watching Yahoo's explanation of why they were worth $40/share. Microsoft's response was "So What??" meaning that none of yahoo's results in recent history have come to par with the board's expectations
Good for blogs so they can report it and good for those of us who find hilarity in the ridiculousness of these events.
Yahoo prepare to be assimilated by MicroBorg
Good. I'm glad. Thats one less stupid toolbar for my customers to install. You would think that when half of their screen realestate is covered by toolbars they'd use ANY of them to search for an answer, but nOoOoOo.
Seriously. Ballmer is so gross. Engadget should host a Photoshop contest to see who can come up with the best image using his fat ugly head.
You're new to the internet, aren't you?
@Tony
I totally agree with you, Microsoft has been more then fair with their offer, but if the Yahoo board doesn't take this offer and everything somehow falls through, the shareholders are going to have a field day with the company.
http://www.collegemogul.com
"Well I can see how great it'll be for everyone to set yet another precedent of 'if I don't get what I want, when and how I want it, I'll go behind your back and force your hand'. It's the same negotiating tactics a 5-year old uses - 'find the enabler'..."
They are not setting another precedent, this is how it is in the takeover corporate world. 62% over today's current price is more than adequate with signs that Yahoo stock is going to continue to sink. They are taking it to the shareholders who really matter and that is the fair thing to do. If a board is so short-sighted and cannot see this opportunity, than maybe the shareholders will.
@tony
me either!
wooohooo! Fun Fun!
Maybe Yahoo! is worried that Microsoft will kill it and actually cause Google to win. I know that I would have to switch from my 12 year old Yahoo e-mail account to my Gmail account that has barely been used.
Dude what are you smoking? So you would let Microsoft tell you exactly how much everything you own is worth?
Microsoft didnt tell them how much they were worth. The traders determine what the going rate is. Microsoft just used the going rate and added more money.
It's not.
This kind of thing happens all of the time in the corporate world.
It's not.
This kind of thing happens all of the time in the corporate world.
Damnit, fix your reply system Engadget.
Wait...wait...let me get my popcorn.....wait!....ok I got my popcorn...continue on!!
oh, so when things don't go your way you just lie down and die?
And Yahoo isn't in business to make money?
umm.. what's up with your comment system? every other day it breaks...
Yes, the broken comment system is especially bad considering all the snarky commentary this site gives to various companies.
Has there been a "how would you improve engadget" post? Maybe I missed it.
1. Click the time and date next to the comment you want to reply to.
2. Then click reply on the right
3. Then check to make sure it says: "replying to USER [Undo]"
Also, i just found the problem.
in the onClick event of each Reply link, you have:
onclick="replyToCmt("comment_num_here","user_here")"
when it should be:
onclick="replyToCmt('comment_num_here','user_here')"
the double quotes around the number and name are messing up the onClick event.
Too much effort this way =( I want one click, type, click =P
For me it's not that I don't know how to reply, it's that half the time I do it the same way I have for years and forget out of habit, therefore misplacing my comment...
@SimonRichards (A.K.A. The first guy)...
Heh... That picture looks like the REAL Steve Balmer... to an engadget newbie, it may look like that is really him, and not a copied-and-pasted photoshop! Great job Engadget!!!
10 Points for the pic
0 Points for the reply system
I just don't get one thing. If Microsoft can spend $44 bnto buy yahoo, WHY NOT spending it to improve your own service and make it a killer. For half this amount they could launch their own services. I think MS people are idiots..they should look at the success stories of Yahoo and Google and launch a similar successful services from each company, for example flickr equivalent, enable IMAP / POP on hotmail, get more into advertising and develop a kick ass search engine. Poeple will come. No need to get bits and pieces of other services. At the same time I'd like to officially announce that if Yahoo takeover will happen, Yahoosoft will not see a single penny from me for yahoo mail plus and flickr. I'm already fed up with the inablitiy to have IMAP access on Yahoo which i LOVE on Gmail. For flickr...well now there's Nokia's Ovi Share which is gainign more customers day by day and I'll gladly fork out $30 for the service.
ummm, yahoo does not have pop/ imap unless u pay gmail is free...
GOOGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Connor...that's exactly what I meant. I'm a paid subscriber of Yahoo and I'm already pissed as it is that there's no IMAP..only POP. Yet even shitty AOL is offering it free of charge so if MS will pick up Yahoo, this will be my good bye ticket unless they start providing IMAP. I don't like Yahoo's "desktop application mimicking" so they're scoring enough points to start pissing people off and steer them in the direction of Gmail. Becoming Microsoft's bitch will only speed up the process of paid subscriber's departure to competition
Once you buy them over, get rid of their piece of crap bloatware called Yahoo Messenger.
Replace it with MSN something so that we can Messpatch.Be it and make it efficient.
You do know that Yahoo and MSN messengers already interoperate, right?
Yes, but the Yahoo software is extremely bloated.
Microsoft is right about this one, the offer was more than generous. Shucks, I would cash my shares in.
@Matt
Where have you been?
Microsoft is and has been a success story.
Much more than any current company.
This is called an acquisition. something that happens all of the time.
It's much easier to buy out a competitor than to develop (i.e. what Google has been doing).
Google stock is falling and the economy is having a hiccup. Now is the best time to move, lower the bid and make the shareholders see the light of reason. Well played, Microsoft.
that is the funniest steve ballmer pic evar!
wonder if peter grabriel's melodies will have the same wooing effect on yahoo.
Does Microsoft actually have anything up their sleeve (new services?) other than removing a competitor which would only make things easier for google.
Anyway, it's a neat way for Microsoft to piss away all its cash. Personally, I would have spent it on innovation and improving Vista, the live.com search engine (even the layout sucks), and the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 instead.
I thought that already existed, and was known as the internet...?
@electronicat*
fuck ya microsoft you rock, capitalism is beast. Microsoft only has to goto these measures cause everyone likes to break their balls good for them dont take no shit ms anti trust tooters can s*ck a C*ck
Message to Yahoo:
Don't let them get flickr!
@x20mar:
Well actually, Microsoft "could" improve Flickr. After all, when Y! acquired it, the only major change associated with Y!, was getting a Y! ID to use Flickr.
Chances are, if MS altered Flickr way too much, I'm quite certain that the whole userbase will dissipate and MS knows that. That's what MS is probably going to try and avoid.
If MS did get Flickr, this good mean some good things like:
1. Cheaper Pro accounts - in an attempt to win users over, MS will lower Flickr's ridiculous $25 a year fee.
2. PhotoSynth technology - Photos in a 3D world : http://labs.live.com/photosynth/
3. DeepZoom/Seadragon technlogy - Zoom into and out of high-res pictures very easily http://labs.live.com/Silverlight+2+Deep+Zoom.aspx
4. HD View - yet another high-res panoramic viewing thing : http://labs.live.com/Silverlight+2+Deep+Zoom.aspx
Among many other things. Thomas Hawk, owner of Zooomr has made some good comments about the impact of this acquisition. http://thomashawk.com/2008/02/what-microsoft-acquisition-of-yahoo.html
People should try thinking positive. Makes the world much better.
Steve gave them his heart, Yahoo gave him a pen.
You're new to the internet, aren't you?
Oh this bloody comment system!
ridiculousness? that's a perfectly legitimate move by microsoft, and anyone should have seen it coming. Yahoo isn't worth crap right now, and microsoft knows the shareholders agree . . . no one is gonna want to sell their company, even for a 62% premium, but shareholders would love to see some profits, so i'm pretty confident they'll get what they want.
nevar!
lol, its not like that anymore anyway, seriously.
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
DIE COMMENT SYSTEM, DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
K i got the message... Also, just click on the date under the person's name (@Apr 5th 2008 3:41PM)
I know, I know...
I did that second time around, but seriously the comment system has been broken TOO LONG!!
and take a prozac or something while you're at it
Whatever destiny lead us to the glorious computa world first.
Muhahaha
@quickboy:
You mention some good points about Flikr, but what has me scratching my head is why? What does Yahoo have that MS wants so badly? Flickr would be nice, but not enough to justify this whole shebang. Are they (Yahoo) sitting on some nice acquisitions ... just what do they have that brings an offer of 62% over stock price?
And just to have some a second-rate search engine to counter google (= first rate) doesn't make sense with this much moolah at stake.
Anybody?
Bueller.... Bueller...
(to anyone wishing to reply, click on the date below my name).
Cant microsoft get a clue that maybe just maybe... YAHOO ISNT FOR SALE FUCKTARDS.
There is absolutely no good that will come from microsoft aquiring yahoo. They hate competition and when they cant win they try to buy them out. I used yahoo to search for things before google came about, but ive never used MSN to search for anything a day in my life.
Its like EA trying to buy out take2. I'm glad they didnt bite. Maybe instead of buying out your competition, you should come up with products that are worth COMPETING.
I urge anybody with yahoo stock to seriously think about the ramifications of this buyout. DOnt think with your wallet people. Think with your head. Think about the impact this will have on the industry.
More importantly, think about the slippery slope this will lead to. Microsoft buys out apple because the zune is a POS? Up yours microsoft.
I think this Flickr find about sums it up:
http://flickr.com/photos/loopymonkey/2243730258
bingo,
perhaps Yahoo's bosses think they are saving Microsoft, not Microsoft saving them. After all, it's the Microsoft OS and Office business that are becoming dinosaurs, Yahoo is pretty well positioned if they could just figure out how to really use what they've purchased the last 3 years. In that respect Microsoft has a negative track record at buying internet companies...and then destroying the reason they were good. The Microsoft deal is just more of the same for Yahoo's stock holders, it's really more to prop up Microsoft's share price, even if the deal goes well, yahoo shareholders become just another Microsoft share holder, which isn't that great anymore.
Another way to look at it: how would you feel if major sports teams simply paid the other team to lose in the playoffs so their team would have a turn even though they weren't the best? This idea of business as "war" is foolish, it should be more like Sports, because at the end of the day every body has to work to eat (or so libertarians like to say) so this heavy handed takeover business is no good for anybody.
Wow, you really seem to be the expert, don't you?
Microsoft OS and Office becoming "dinosaurs"? Are you kidding. Millions of copies of the latest Windows and Office have been sold already.
The only main good things about Y! I can point out is their general site friendliness, Flickr, some parts of Mail, Answers, and that's about it. Microsoft has a few of it's own good services, and bring the best parts together would be a great thing for users.
So tell me which internet companies they bought and killed the goodness out of? I don't think companies buy other companies for a lot of money, without trying to use the technology or data to make better their own services.
Your analogy makes little sense. You really don't know what you're saying.
I'm not sure how to read your comment, but Yahoo's hands aren't grubby in this, they are trying to push the great Satan away and not take the money. That 62% premium (if it's even that high at this point) goes to the individual shareholders. After the buyout (not merger), Yahoo will vanish except as a web domain (remember AOL & Netscape).
Totally. Agreed. Also.
My former comment was in a reply. Dumb me.
This isn't going behind their back. The board does not get to make decisions with impunity, it represents millions of stockholders. But I guess you with your idiot analogies also believe that 'consent of the governed' and 'democracy' are overrated too.
Meant as a reply to http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/05/microsoft-threatening-more-aggressive-moves-if-yahoo-doesnt-com/1#c11464821
Lets get this over with so I can cancel my Yahoo! account.
Actually, again, another finance 101 lesson, the public said Yahoo was only worth $19 a share. The fact that Microsoft says it is worth $31 a share, especially in a declining market, is a huge windfall for shareholders.
Jerry Yang may wish it was worth more, may want it to be worth more, and may be trying to wring the last penny out of Microsoft for the rest of the shareholders. That's fair but we are at the end of that road. Microsoft is going to buy the company and there's nothing Jerry or anyone else that's being emotional about it can do. It is over.
Remember that in 'Say Anything' in the scene where Cusak holds up the boombox - it *doesn't work*. :-)
...To be clear, I mean the boombox works (plays music), but it doesn't win back the girl.
LOL People wonder why everyone hates microsoft, can't say i like the way they do business :)
AH!!!
I can't reply to the idiots!! Please fix this reply system so I can tell them they are wrong!
kthx
Where've you been? Microsoft doesn't know how to create, it just absorbs and copies.
Why do you care?
I mean who the fuck uses Yahoo anyway?
This is a horrible idea on MS's part, not because they are the "evil empire", but because Yahoo will add like nothing to the company.
STUPID REPLY BUTTON!!!
Thanks for the tip....
I just get used to the regular way working and then it stops and I don't notice and look totally stupid.
holy toledo batman, now even the trick of clicking on the date doesn't work for replies! The above reply of mine was in response to "quickboy" on the first page....
Am I the only one that wants to keep Microsofts hands off of Yahoo? It's not that Microsoft didn't make a great offer but I like having a choice. Once Microsoft buys out Yahoo then I guess I'm stuck using everything Google because I don't trust Microsoft with all my services anymore.
What do you mean by "choice"? There's many e-mail account services on the internet. There's more than just Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Gmail, you know.
What do you mean by "trust"? Exactly what can't you trust about MS, than you can trust with Y! or Google?
I mean, you do know that Google's known to index through people's e-mail for what they "say" is advertising? Though some privacy groups think Google's doing more with user's data than that. Have you still not seen "Master Plan the Movie"? It graphically illustrates some of the ulterior motives that Google can be going for.
http://masterplanthemovie.com/
Honestly, I'm not trying to be a stick-up for MS here. I'm just pointing out that some people are being rather ridiculous about what they think the outcome of this acquisition means. Just because we're talking about MS here. It could go bad or it could go great. But why always be pessimistic when it's MS? They've done mistakes before, but they've also done great things before. And chances are, with the many mistakes MS does, they're bound to have got it by now, or soon.
Jeez. They still threaten people with lead overshoes. If you don't come quietly, you'll be swimming with the fishes with chains and an anchor tied around your ankles.
"...It's the same negotiating tactics a 5-year old uses..."
I remember the last time my five year old went behind my back by sending an open letter that threatened to go directly to my shareholders and let them decide on a takeover. I was so mad.
Well, I guess this is what can happen when you launch an IPO. Honestly though, maybe Microsoft knows something I don't (in fact I'm sure they do), but Yahoo seems to lose it's relevancy more and more as the years go on. Sure, they may have splattered some paint on their almost plain-text looking pages, but that seems like Google money, not Yahoo! money. Also I recent them for stealing the name of my former favourite chocolate milk.
As long as microsoft does not start to stuff my yahoo email account with news that i don't care about everyday, like my long abandoned hotmail account its ok with me. Why don't they just fix up MSN live and forget about yahoo???? as soon as yahoo starts to look like MSN, they will have to dead sites that's for sure
Sheesh. You must be stuck back a few years ago.
A lot of things have changed since you last used MSN Hotmial. For starters, it's now Live Hotmail. NOT MSN Live or whatever variation.
And what do you mean stuff about useless news everyday? I have a Live Hotmail accounts, and I don't get e-mails about news that I never wanted. Maybe that was back in the old days, but I don't see that.
And WinLive and MSN are 2 different things. The news/content you find boring is on the MSN side. All of their services is located on the WinLive side (Mail, IM, etc.).
Obviously you haven't use WinLive lately or you would actually know. It's a wonder if all other Y! users assume things never changed since the switch to Y!.
I think the chocolate milk you're referring to is Yoohoo. Not Yahoo.
And just because MS thinks that 62% above market is "fair" that doesn't automatically mean that selling to MS is the best thing to do.
you hair National Socialist, Chris!