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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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By MOTOKO RICH 8:50 AM ET
After weeks of speculation, Bertelsmann chose Markus Dohle, the head of its printing unit, to run the division.
Oil Spikes on Supply Concerns
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 45 minutes ago
The latest surge comes after OPEC’s president was quoted as saying his organization won’t increase its output before its next meeting in September.
Stocks Drop as Oil Tops $129 a Barrel
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 25 minutes ago
Investors reacted to record oil prices and a report that raised concerns about inflation’s impact on consumer spending.
Wholesale Inflation Slowed in April
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 10:57 AM ET
Inflation at the wholesale level slowed last month after a huge increase in March although prices for a number of items from prescription drugs to pasta shot upward.
Home Depot Is Latest to Feel the Slowdown
BYREUTERS 42 minutes ago
Home Depot reported a 66 percent drop in quarterly profit as the housing slowdown hurt sales and it took a charge to close stores and cut back expansion plans.
Target Profit Drops Nearly 8%
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 9:50 AM ET
The retailer said profit fell on higher costs and softer-than-expected sales, but the results beat Wall Street estimates.
Senate Leaders Agree on Housing Aid
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Senate leaders reached a deal on housing legislation that might meet Bush administration approval.
Times Topics: Mortgages and the Markets Air Taxis Fly Into Financial Turbulence
By JOE SHARKEY
The development of the air taxi business, built upon the proposal that commercial air service has become increasingly unreliable for business travel, is threatened by the credit crunch.
Times Topics: Air Travel Economic Tide Is Rising for Repo Man
By DAVID STREITFELD
The recreational boating industry has faltered amid the housing slump, leading to a boom in repossessions.
CNBC Video: Rising Seas for Boat Repossessions Slide Show: A Voyage to Default Owner of Bill Blass Faces Cash Shortage After Acquisition
By MICHAEL BARBARO
The fast-growing buyout firm that owns Bill Blass, Athlete’s Foot and Maggie Moo’s appeared to be on the verge of financial collapse on Monday.
Court Upholds Tax Exemptions for Municipal Bonds
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
A longstanding practice by many states to tax the interest on out-of-state municipal bonds, but not the interest on their own, is not a case of unfair protectionism, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
News Analysis
Reaching Well Beyond the Farm
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Few pieces of legislation generate the level of public scorn heaped upon the farm bill, but few pieces of major legislation get such overwhelming bipartisan support.
Rising Food Prices Sharpen a European Debate Google Offers Personal Health Records on the Web
By STEVE LOHR
The Internet search giant joins other companies, all hoping to capitalize on the potential of Internet tools to help consumers manage their own health care.
Times Topics: Google Inc. Former AOL Executives Sued in Ad-Revenue Case
By TIM ARANGO
The S.E.C. filed fraud charges against eight former AOL executives over an accounting procedure that caused the company to overstate its advertising revenue by more than $1 billion.
S.E.C. Announcement Netflix to Sell a Device for Instantly Watching Movies on TV Sets
By SAUL HANSELL
Netflix, which will begin marketing the device on Tuesday, will not charge customers beyond their normal subscription fee.
Newspapers on Upswing in Developing Markets Buffett’s Shopping Trip to Europe Draws a Crowd Leading Bidder Emerges to Lease a Toll Road On the Road: In Today’s Air Travel, Stress and Comfort Mix Index Implies Slowdown May Prove a Short One Advertising: Britain Tries to Lower the Volume on Commercials Words of Caution Deflate Optimism Shares of Bell Canada Drop as a Buyout Deal Unravels Gain From Godiva Lifts Campbell Profit as Soup Sales Fall Lowe’s, Hurt by the Slump in Housing and the Economy, Reports Profit Fell 18% Rising Food Prices Sharpen a European Debate Dell’s Finance Chief to Step Down Details of Microsoft Offer to Yahoo Bits: Apple Looking for More Mobile Music Memo Pad Frequent Flier: Upset by Fumes and a Visit by the Biohazard Team 2 at BAE Detained
MEDIA & ADVERTISING»
The True Story of a Script, Big Dreams and Vanishing Private Equity Al Jazeera English Tries to Extend Its Reach WORLD BUSINESS»
Banks’ Terms Imperil Deal to Buy Out Bell Canada Al Jazeera English Tries to Extend Its Reach SMALL BUSINESS»
If It’s Eye Care Technology, This Must Be Orange County For Customer Service, Please Read (Instead of Holding) YOUR MONEY»
How to Stop Inflation From Devouring a Portfolio Who Needs to Travel When There’s Home? Business Headlines
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DealBookDeals in a Downturn
When the going gets tough, that may be the best time to try a merger, a recent study suggests.
Go to DealBook »
Today's Columnist
Dealbook
A Gamble, but What if He Wins?
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Carl Icahn, the corporate raider turned activist investor, is gambling to bring Microsoft back to the bargaining table and buy Yahoo.
More From DealBook | Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo Deal CNBC Video: Microsoft Revives Yahoo Interest Details of Microsoft Offer to Yahoo
Earnings
Medtronic Profit Beats Expectations 9:30 AM ET Staples Profit Edges Higher 10:00 AM ET Saks Posts Higher Quarterly Profit 9:28 AM ET
TV Decoder
The Upfronts
The networks announce new shows, reveal 2008-09 television schedules and try to entice advertisers.
Most Recent Updates Upfronts 101
Special Series in Business
Age of Riches The Energy Challenge The Food Chain Golden Opportunities Health Plans In God’s Name Jackpot Blogs
Today in Bits: And the Winner of the Game Console Wars Is...
Go to Bits »
Floyd Norris: Notions on High and Low Finance
A bank started by the father of mortgage securitizations, Lew Ranieri, admits it hid losses. Can it survive?
Go to Blog »
White House Complains About NBC’s Edit of Bush Interview, and more.
Go to Blog »
Lessons From My First Boss
Reflections on a first job show that staying in the wrong position can sometimes be a smart move.
Go to Blog »
Business Columnists
David Carr (Mon.)Andrew Ross Sorkin (Tue.)David Leonhardt (Wed.)David Pogue (Thurs.)Floyd Norris (Fri.)Joe Nocera (Sat.)Gretchen Morgenson (Sun.)News from AP & Reuters »
Goldman, UBS And Morgan Stanley Agree on Dark Pools
16 minutes ago
Wall St Drops as Oil, Data Fan Inflation Fear
34 minutes ago
Stocks stumble after record oil, inflation worries
40 minutes ago
Fed's Kohn: U.S. Rates Appropriate
42 minutes ago
Oil crosses $129 for first time, heads for $130
58 minutes ago
Agriculture futures rise; livestock mostly higher
10:58 a.m.
From the Magazine
Can a Dead Brand Live Again?
Rob Walker, the "Consumed" columnist for the Sunday Magazine, takes a look at reviving old brands and what brands mean to us.
Go to the Magazine »
Podcast
Weekend Business
This week: Jeff Sommer and Jad Mouawad on gas prices; Brad Stone on enterprises spanning charity and sex-related Web sites, and Mark Hulbert on a bullish
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
After Google calls Facebook’s bluff, Zuckerberg says “let’s see if there’s a way to make it work” [data portability]
When Google announced its ‘Friend Connect’ product to deliver social networking features to the ‘long tail’ of the Web, the option “to see, invite, and interact with… existing friends” from competing social networks was bound to raise a few eyebrows. Not least from Facebook, whose inclusion was made possible via the site’s public API not through a formal partnership.
The response: Facebook blocks Google access claiming privacy concerns, while the search giant says it’s done nothing wrong as users have to explicitly opt-in by being re-directed to Facebook’s own log-in screen, and can unlink their Google Friend Connect and Facebook accounts at any time.
Facebook’s biggest beef seems to be that, unlike its own ‘Facebook Connect’ feature, users who link their Facebook accounts with Google’s Friend Connect, and therefore potentially hundreds of other sites on the Web (that’s the whole point of Friend Connect), will no longer be able to use Facebook as a central place to toggle which external sites can access some of their data. Instead, Facebook can be used to toggle Google Friend connect access, and then users will need to log-in to Friend Connect to manage access by other sites.
Facebook > Google Friend Connect > Friend Connect supported sites
What has seemed obvious to me all long is that to appease Facebook’s concerns, if taken at face value (no pun intended), Google’s Friend Connect would simply need to be interoperable with Facebook Connect so that users can toggle access by all the different Friends Connect-supported sites, within Facebook’s own privacy controls.
We’ll work with them to figure this out
On that note, Facebook said today that it’s willing to sit down with Google to explore a way forward. Talking at a news conference in Tokyo to launch a local language version of the site, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “We want to talk to Google about this and see if there’s a way we can make it work”, reports Macworld UK.
“Part of the issue with Google’s Friend Connect is that when users grant access to Google’s product, Google might share their information with another application, or some part of it, maybe not all of it, without that user knowing. And part of what makes our system work is that people know exactly who they are sharing all their information with,” he said.
While Zuckerberg’s words will give some encouragement to data portability evangelists, they can also be seen as just the latest round posturing between Facebook and Google. Zuckerberg also claimed that Google didn’t give the social networking site a ‘heads up’ that it planned to include them in the launch of Friends Connect, contradicting earlier claims by Google engineering director David Glazer last week.
“They launched that without asking us or talking to us about it first so we had no choice but to follow the rules that we had set forth for any developer on top of our platform and we followed them,” said Zuckerberg. “But Google’s a big player in the space and they make good things and our goal is to work with them to figure this out.”
The data portability land grab
Of course many suspect that this has very little do to with privacy, and instead what we’re seeing is an attempted data portability land grab by Facebook, MySpace and Google, in which users will be given the ability to share their social graphs elsewhere on the Web from where the data originates, so long as the primary source can remain the sole controller of that data — a kind of social control panel for the Web OS. In this scenario, data can never really leave the originating site - not in the strictest sense as that would imply it doesn’t have to remain on the original host’s servers - but, a limited subset of that data can be synced with other sites.
Steve O'Hear is a London-based consultant, educator, and journalist, focussing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
The response: Facebook blocks Google access claiming privacy concerns, while the search giant says it’s done nothing wrong as users have to explicitly opt-in by being re-directed to Facebook’s own log-in screen, and can unlink their Google Friend Connect and Facebook accounts at any time.
Facebook’s biggest beef seems to be that, unlike its own ‘Facebook Connect’ feature, users who link their Facebook accounts with Google’s Friend Connect, and therefore potentially hundreds of other sites on the Web (that’s the whole point of Friend Connect), will no longer be able to use Facebook as a central place to toggle which external sites can access some of their data. Instead, Facebook can be used to toggle Google Friend connect access, and then users will need to log-in to Friend Connect to manage access by other sites.
Facebook > Google Friend Connect > Friend Connect supported sites
What has seemed obvious to me all long is that to appease Facebook’s concerns, if taken at face value (no pun intended), Google’s Friend Connect would simply need to be interoperable with Facebook Connect so that users can toggle access by all the different Friends Connect-supported sites, within Facebook’s own privacy controls.
We’ll work with them to figure this out
On that note, Facebook said today that it’s willing to sit down with Google to explore a way forward. Talking at a news conference in Tokyo to launch a local language version of the site, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “We want to talk to Google about this and see if there’s a way we can make it work”, reports Macworld UK.
“Part of the issue with Google’s Friend Connect is that when users grant access to Google’s product, Google might share their information with another application, or some part of it, maybe not all of it, without that user knowing. And part of what makes our system work is that people know exactly who they are sharing all their information with,” he said.
While Zuckerberg’s words will give some encouragement to data portability evangelists, they can also be seen as just the latest round posturing between Facebook and Google. Zuckerberg also claimed that Google didn’t give the social networking site a ‘heads up’ that it planned to include them in the launch of Friends Connect, contradicting earlier claims by Google engineering director David Glazer last week.
“They launched that without asking us or talking to us about it first so we had no choice but to follow the rules that we had set forth for any developer on top of our platform and we followed them,” said Zuckerberg. “But Google’s a big player in the space and they make good things and our goal is to work with them to figure this out.”
The data portability land grab
Of course many suspect that this has very little do to with privacy, and instead what we’re seeing is an attempted data portability land grab by Facebook, MySpace and Google, in which users will be given the ability to share their social graphs elsewhere on the Web from where the data originates, so long as the primary source can remain the sole controller of that data — a kind of social control panel for the Web OS. In this scenario, data can never really leave the originating site - not in the strictest sense as that would imply it doesn’t have to remain on the original host’s servers - but, a limited subset of that data can be synced with other sites.
Steve O'Hear is a London-based consultant, educator, and journalist, focussing on the Internet and all aspects of digital technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Oil Pushes Past $127 After OPEC Remarks
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose back above $127 a barrel on Monday, after OPEC's president said the producer group will not call an early meeting and even at its September gathering was unlikely to boost supply as the world had enough oil.
U.S. light crude for June delivery was up $1.16 at $127.45 a barrel by 8:24 a.m. EDT.
It closed at $126.29 a barrel on Friday after touching a record peak of $127.82 earlier that day after publication of a bullish price forecast from investment bank Goldman Sachs.
London Brent crude was up 67 cents at $125.66 a barrel.
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said oil markets were well supplied and blamed high prices on speculation, a weak dollar and geopolitical problems.
"As for OPEC, indications shows that there is no shortage (of supply)," he said in Algiers
Khelil said OPEC would not meet before its next scheduled gathering in September and that this meeting was unlikely to result in an output increase.
"All in all, there is little indication that we are on the verge of a major price breakdown," said Edward Meir, analyst at broker MF Global.
He said a production increase from Saudi Arabia, revealed on Friday, was only "token" in terms of extra production.
Saudi Arabia has boosted oil output by 300,000 barrels per day to meet demand and compensate for other producers' lower output, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Friday.
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Saturday he was pleased with the Saudi move, but it was not enough to solve problems in the top energy consumer the United States.
OPEC COMMENTS
But comments OPEC oil ministers on Monday all highlighted that global oil supplies are enough to cope with demand.
Qatar oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah also said there was no need to boost oil supplies to global markets. "The market doesn't need more oil," he said, pointing to a cut in forecast oil demand growth by the International Energy Agency.
"There is more oil in the market than consumers want," said Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani.
Iraq aims to boost total oil exports to 2.3 million barrels per day from 2.0 million bpd by the end of the year, he said.
Oil prices have risen six-fold since 2002 and doubled since last year as rising demand from China and other developing nations stretched spare production capacity, adding pressure on the U.S. economy already hard hit by a housing slump.
Diesel has taken centre stage in the world energy crunch as tight power supplies in China, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and parts of the Middle East triggered a boom in demand for middle distillates for electric generators, lending support to oil prices.
Chinese demand for imported diesel is expected to rise even further in June after last week's earthquake disrupted gas supplies to major cities and as companies built stockpiles ahead of the summer Olympics.
Broker Lehman Brothers warned that record-breaking commodities prices that were drawing in hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments threaten to create an asset bubble.
U.S. light crude for June delivery was up $1.16 at $127.45 a barrel by 8:24 a.m. EDT.
It closed at $126.29 a barrel on Friday after touching a record peak of $127.82 earlier that day after publication of a bullish price forecast from investment bank Goldman Sachs.
London Brent crude was up 67 cents at $125.66 a barrel.
Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said oil markets were well supplied and blamed high prices on speculation, a weak dollar and geopolitical problems.
"As for OPEC, indications shows that there is no shortage (of supply)," he said in Algiers
Khelil said OPEC would not meet before its next scheduled gathering in September and that this meeting was unlikely to result in an output increase.
"All in all, there is little indication that we are on the verge of a major price breakdown," said Edward Meir, analyst at broker MF Global.
He said a production increase from Saudi Arabia, revealed on Friday, was only "token" in terms of extra production.
Saudi Arabia has boosted oil output by 300,000 barrels per day to meet demand and compensate for other producers' lower output, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Friday.
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Saturday he was pleased with the Saudi move, but it was not enough to solve problems in the top energy consumer the United States.
OPEC COMMENTS
But comments OPEC oil ministers on Monday all highlighted that global oil supplies are enough to cope with demand.
Qatar oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah also said there was no need to boost oil supplies to global markets. "The market doesn't need more oil," he said, pointing to a cut in forecast oil demand growth by the International Energy Agency.
"There is more oil in the market than consumers want," said Iraqi oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani.
Iraq aims to boost total oil exports to 2.3 million barrels per day from 2.0 million bpd by the end of the year, he said.
Oil prices have risen six-fold since 2002 and doubled since last year as rising demand from China and other developing nations stretched spare production capacity, adding pressure on the U.S. economy already hard hit by a housing slump.
Diesel has taken centre stage in the world energy crunch as tight power supplies in China, South Africa, Chile, Argentina and parts of the Middle East triggered a boom in demand for middle distillates for electric generators, lending support to oil prices.
Chinese demand for imported diesel is expected to rise even further in June after last week's earthquake disrupted gas supplies to major cities and as companies built stockpiles ahead of the summer Olympics.
Broker Lehman Brothers warned that record-breaking commodities prices that were drawing in hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments threaten to create an asset bubble.
Tax Exemptions for Bonds Upheld
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld long-standing state tax exemptions for municipal bonds.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Before the Court: Are Munis Like Milk, or Garbage?
(Nov. 6, 2007) In a 7-2 ruling Monday in a case from Kentucky, the justices permitted states to exempt interest on their own bonds from taxation while taxing residents for interest on bonds issued by other states.
In the $2.5 trillion municipal bond market, 42 states exempt some or all interest on their bonds from income taxes, while taxing interest on bonds from other states.
The states have said that throwing out the system of exemptions that began 90 years ago would have a devastating impact on state finances.
Industry groups warned of possible turmoil in the municipal bond market if the existing setup were dismantled.
In the majority opinion, Justice David Souter said that Kentucky’s version of the tax exemption — similar to that in most other states — does not violate the Constitution’s commerce clause.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said the majority decision is protectionist and “invites other protectionist laws.”
Justice Souter responded that that the dissent “rightly praises the virtues of the free market.” But he said that overturning the tax exemptions now would upset the market in bonds based on the experience of nearly a century.
Some $432 billion in municipal bonds were issued in 2006 alone. In 2004, some 4.4 million investors earned $52 billion in interest on municipal bonds.
Municipal bonds finance the operations of state and local governments, education, the purchase of public lands as well as the construction and improvement of public buildings, transportation systems and water and sewer facilities.
A separate category of municipal bonds called private-activity bonds supports non-governmental entities including hospitals and health care facilities, small manufacturing plants, colleges and universities, airports, even the rebuilding of areas hit by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In the case before the court, two taxpayers, George and Catherine Davis of Jefferson County, Ky., challenged Kentucky law because it required the couple to pay income tax on bonds they held from other states.
The Davises said Kentucky law violates the commerce clause of the United States Constitution giving Congress authority to regulate commerce among the states. It is well established in the courts that the commerce clause prohibits states from discriminating against interstate trade.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Before the Court: Are Munis Like Milk, or Garbage?
(Nov. 6, 2007) In a 7-2 ruling Monday in a case from Kentucky, the justices permitted states to exempt interest on their own bonds from taxation while taxing residents for interest on bonds issued by other states.
In the $2.5 trillion municipal bond market, 42 states exempt some or all interest on their bonds from income taxes, while taxing interest on bonds from other states.
The states have said that throwing out the system of exemptions that began 90 years ago would have a devastating impact on state finances.
Industry groups warned of possible turmoil in the municipal bond market if the existing setup were dismantled.
In the majority opinion, Justice David Souter said that Kentucky’s version of the tax exemption — similar to that in most other states — does not violate the Constitution’s commerce clause.
In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito said the majority decision is protectionist and “invites other protectionist laws.”
Justice Souter responded that that the dissent “rightly praises the virtues of the free market.” But he said that overturning the tax exemptions now would upset the market in bonds based on the experience of nearly a century.
Some $432 billion in municipal bonds were issued in 2006 alone. In 2004, some 4.4 million investors earned $52 billion in interest on municipal bonds.
Municipal bonds finance the operations of state and local governments, education, the purchase of public lands as well as the construction and improvement of public buildings, transportation systems and water and sewer facilities.
A separate category of municipal bonds called private-activity bonds supports non-governmental entities including hospitals and health care facilities, small manufacturing plants, colleges and universities, airports, even the rebuilding of areas hit by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In the case before the court, two taxpayers, George and Catherine Davis of Jefferson County, Ky., challenged Kentucky law because it required the couple to pay income tax on bonds they held from other states.
The Davises said Kentucky law violates the commerce clause of the United States Constitution giving Congress authority to regulate commerce among the states. It is well established in the courts that the commerce clause prohibits states from discriminating against interstate trade.
Pursuit of Yahoo Shows Microsoft Needs a Franchise
Two weeks after walking away from takeover talks with Yahoo, Microsoft has made it clear that it still needs to create an Internet powerhouse that could rival Google — and that its interest in Yahoo has not waned.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
Pursuit of Yahoo Shows Microsoft Needs a Franchise
Two weeks after walking away from takeover talks with Yahoo, Microsoft has made it clear that it still needs to create an Internet powerhouse that could rival Google — and that its interest in Yahoo has not waned.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
Pursuit of Yahoo Shows Microsoft Needs a Franchise
Two weeks after walking away from takeover talks with Yahoo, Microsoft has made it clear that it still needs to create an Internet powerhouse that could rival Google — and that its interest in Yahoo has not waned.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
Times Topics: Microsoft-Yahoo DealMicrosoft said on Sunday that it had approached Yahoo, this time with an ostensibly narrower aim: a collaboration on Internet advertising. But it hinted that it could still seek a takeover down the road.
The renewed talks reflect both Microsoft’s fears and Yahoo’s potential ills. Microsoft wants to head off any collaboration on advertising between Yahoo and the market leader, Google. At the same time, Microsoft is seeking to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Yahoo, which is facing a proxy battle with the activist investor Carl C. Icahn over the failed takeover talks.
Mr. Icahn, who has made a career out of agitating for change at some of the nation’s largest companies, bought a stake in Yahoo after the Microsoft takeover negotiations collapsed. He has named a slate of directors and threatened to unseat Yahoo’s management — or at least push Yahoo back into Microsoft’s arms.
On Monday morning, the report of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo had only a mild effect on the two companies’ stocks. In early trading, Yahoo was at $27.98, up 32 cents, and Microsoft was at $29.69, off 30 cents.
Microsoft released a brief statement on Sunday disclosing the renewed talks, a surprising reversal just weeks after it withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo and said it had “moved on.”
In an e-mail message to Microsoft employees on Sunday afternoon, a senior Microsoft executive seemed to acknowledge that moving on might be difficult.
In his memo, Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of Microsoft’s Internet business, emphasized the urgency felt at Microsoft about its failure to make more progress in catching up to Google.
“Regardless of the outcome of any new discussions,” he wrote, “it is important that we continue to move forward to strengthen our online services business. The fact is that we are not where we want to be in this business yet and we’ve been in this position longer than we’d all like.”
Mr. Johnson then outlined Microsoft’s ambitious agenda in Internet search and online advertising, exploiting the company’s strengths in desktop software and newer fields like cellphone software. Among the goals enumerated in the memo are to “innovate and disrupt in search,” “win in display” ads online and “reinvent portal and social media experiences.”
Microsoft’s hastily revived effort to reach some kind of deal with Yahoo seems to suggest that the software giant has doubts about whether it can achieve those goals on its own.
Indeed, Microsoft’s on-again, off-again interest in Yahoo has raised questions from analysts, investors, customers and employees about its strategy. Amid the discussions, Microsoft is scheduled to present its online strategy to advertisers at a gathering this week.
People involved in the confidential discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo said the talks centered on a partnership or joint venture for search-related advertising to compete against Google. When Microsoft first made its unsolicited bid of $31 a share for Yahoo in February, it said it was doing so as part of its battle to increase its relatively small slice of the search-related advertising market against Google, a giant with about 60 percent of the United States market, according to the measurement firm comScore.
By comparison, Yahoo has about 21 percent of the market, and Microsoft has about 9 percent, comScore said.
The timing of Microsoft’s new approach may be a turning point in the months-long story or just an opportunistic effort to further insert itself into a dance between Yahoo and Google. Yahoo has been racing to complete its own partnership with Google and was expected to announce a formal agreement as early as this week. A Yahoo-Google partnership, which would likely face antitrust scrutiny, could make Yahoo a less desirable partner or takeover candidate for Microsoft.
The Google-Yahoo discussions have been centered around the notion of Google delivering ads alongside some Yahoo searches. Such a deal would help Yahoo generate more cash, because Google’s search advertising technology is more sophisticated and is used by more advertisers. As a result, Google earns more on every search than its competitors, on average.
A similar partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft might not have the same effect, because Microsoft’s base of advertisers is smaller than Yahoo’s. People involved in the confidential discussions said that search advertising was certainly a part of Microsoft’s renewed interest in Yahoo, but they cautioned that any relationship being discussed might be different from the one the company had been contemplating with Google.
A Google representative did not return a phone call seeking comment.
It is unclear whether Microsoft would pursue a takeover bid again. In its statement on Sunday, Microsoft insisted it was not making such a bid, but hinted that it could be persuaded to reverse course.
“Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo or Microsoft or with other third parties,” the company said.
The new discussions also come as Yahoo is facing increasing pressure from shareholders, some of whom are furious that its board did not work harder to reach a deal to sell the company to Microsoft. Last week, Mr. Icahn said the directors had “acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders.” People close to Microsoft and Mr. Icahn say that neither has been in contact with the other.
Yahoo released a statement late on Sunday saying that it continues to explore strategic alternatives and remains open to any proposals that are good for its shareholders.
“Yahoo’s board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value,” the statement said. Yahoo also said that it had confirmed with Microsoft that the software giant was not interested an outright acquisition of Yahoo at this time.
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