More Yahoo-ey
Nov 30 2008
A sweet deal for Microsoft to buy Yahoo's search business? Probably not. But, hey, let the games begin.
Well, maybe Carl Icahn will get something out of the weekend rumor that Microsoft will pony up $20 billion to buy Yahoo's search business.
The best the rest of Yahoo shareholders can hope for is that a morning pop from optimistic speculators gives them a chance to exit their positions. Icahn? Well, he's already in too deep.
Late last week, the corporate raider...oops, activist investor...spent $67 million to buy 6.8 million shares of the bloodied internet company, upping his stake in the company to 5.5 percent. The stock jumped around 9 percent on the news in Friday's shortened trading session.
On Sunday, the Times of London reported Steve Ballmer was going to make a run at Yahoo's search business, after failing several times to acquire the whole company. With Yahoo chief Jerry Yang on his way out, it makes perfect sense, except that every player named in the paper's report has called it total nonsense.
The Brits said Jon Miller, the former head of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, the erstwhile boss of Rupert Murdoch's internet operations, would be involved in the effort.
American tech bloggers were quick to report the story as an imaginative stretch, and Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider points outs that Yahoo's total market cap as of Friday's close was just $15 billion.
Bottom line: With its management in tatters and its investors deep in the hole, a Yahoo deal will likely happen. This Yahoo deal—probably not.
The best the rest of Yahoo shareholders can hope for is that a morning pop from optimistic speculators gives them a chance to exit their positions. Icahn? Well, he's already in too deep.
Late last week, the corporate raider...oops, activist investor...spent $67 million to buy 6.8 million shares of the bloodied internet company, upping his stake in the company to 5.5 percent. The stock jumped around 9 percent on the news in Friday's shortened trading session.
On Sunday, the Times of London reported Steve Ballmer was going to make a run at Yahoo's search business, after failing several times to acquire the whole company. With Yahoo chief Jerry Yang on his way out, it makes perfect sense, except that every player named in the paper's report has called it total nonsense.
The Brits said Jon Miller, the former head of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, the erstwhile boss of Rupert Murdoch's internet operations, would be involved in the effort.
American tech bloggers were quick to report the story as an imaginative stretch, and Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider points outs that Yahoo's total market cap as of Friday's close was just $15 billion.
Bottom line: With its management in tatters and its investors deep in the hole, a Yahoo deal will likely happen. This Yahoo deal—probably not.
