Breaking News: Microsoft seeking to acquire Yahoo!

by Nik Fletcher Feb 1st 2008

Never mind the Twitter speculation -- there's bigger fish to fry this morning, as Microsoft has proposed (and we must reiterate: proposed) to acquire Yahoo! Here's the quote from the Microsoft Press Release:

"Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft's proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008."

Whether Yahoo! accepts the offer, or enters into negotiations, remains to be seen. First thoughts here at Download Squad? Assuming it goes ahead, what does that mean for the likes of Flickr? Does this suggest that Microsoft is choosing to acquire the momentum of an already-well-known services company instead of internally developing its Windows Live (nee MSN) services? The deal is primarily focused on the bringing together of Microsoft and Yahoo!'s advertising platforms, but the other services that form part of Yahoo! certainly add another dimension to the deal.

More on this as we have it -- Yahoo has, at the time of writing, not published any press releases about the Microsoft offer.

Update: Microsoft is to host a Press Conference Call at 05:30am PST / 08:30am EST to discuss the proposal.
Update 2: Yahoo! stock is up 60% in pre-market trading.
Update 3: Yahoo! is to "evaluate this proposal carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo!'s strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders."

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Victor Agreda Jr said 7:49AM on 2-01-2008

Hachi machi, this is crazy (but not altogether unexpected). And to call a press conf to discuss? Gonna have to make popcorn, this could get exciting...

kingkool68 said 8:26AM on 2-01-2008

I agree with Dvoark that this is a bad idea -> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2126215,00.asp

Microsoft and Yahoo! have too much overlap and while they figure out how to combine the two behemoths, Google will continue to increase their lead.

Todd said 9:53AM on 2-01-2008

Sad if it happens. All thoses great products ( Yahoo IM, Flickr, Yahoo Mail, the Yahoo developers Network, etc. ) will be ruined overnight.

I guess if all the Yahoo employees can sell their stock, make lots of money, then jump ship, I would be happy for them. But those of us who have been happy, loyal Yahoo users since 1994 will have to go elsewhere.

michael said 3:39PM on 2-02-2008

You are kidding right?

I mean, not EVERYTHING Microsoft makes is so sucky. Microsoft has their own alternatives to those as well, and sometimes, they include pretty good features that aren't in any of those.

What I hope to see is that the best of Y! + the best of Windows Live = One great account you can use.

But being so pessimistic is dumb. Microsoft won't pull them some successful sites down, and make peope search for alternatives. Maybe some of Y!'s employees can introduce new things, and who knows what. This could be great.

Grant Robertson said 10:34AM on 2-01-2008

I almost can't believe I'm typing this but here goes, I agree with John Dvorak too.

Uhg, I feel dirty now. I've gotta go shower.

Seriously, this isn't the way to catch Google. MSFT has enough problems with being pulled in too many directions, and acquiring Yahoo! only adds to the confusion.

Pray for Flickr.

Victor Agreda, Jr. said 11:17AM on 2-01-2008

I'm not afraid to say I agree with Dvorak, which I do. This will muddle things horribly, and all those nifty web services we've come to know and love from Y! could very well get crapified beyond recognition (do we need Achievements on Flickr? could del.icio.us benefit from a Passport login? how about .NET for Pipes?).

Of course, the market will love it because it sees things in the subtle shades of a Mondrian. Here they just see one competitor eating another, hence, it must be MAGIC!

The only magic is how Semel got away with anything more than a sound thrashing...

Todd said 11:45AM on 2-01-2008

"...how about .NET for Pipes?" OMG. I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

And as a follow-up ( since Fletcher isn't doing it ) as of 10:44 AM CST, the blogsphere is overwhelming against the idea. Plus Mr. Ballmer already hinted he will layoff every Berkley based Yahoo employee that won't relocated to the Borg cube...er...I mean Redmond Washington.

John Battelle has made a comment, and references his interview will Ballmer about Yahoo being assimilated into the collective from last year:

http://battellemedia.com/archives/004245.php

telecommatt said 12:55PM on 2-01-2008

It just seems to me that M$ has been wallowing around trying to figure out what in the world their point is for years now. Although, since Yahoo! is also trying to figure out what their purpose is, maybe it actually is a good match. Except that now you'll have an even bigger company that can't figure out where they're going or what to do when they get there...

Rob said 1:26PM on 2-01-2008

I guess I don't see what the big deal is. Yahoo has been Google's ugly step sister (twice removed) for quite a while. Their service and tools are piss-poor and their communication tools like email, messaging and forums are,... well to put it bluntly, crap. It was no big surprise to me when I heard they were going to be restructuring.

Now don't get me wrong. I see the significance of MS (possibly) buying out Yahoo, but I doubt it will get much better. Honestly, I don't even care about this news,... why am I still typing?

Robert Headley said 3:12PM on 2-01-2008

Most yahoo products (with the exception of those that they purchased from another company) are bloated and ineffective. Yahoo mail may have a desktop like interface, but it doesn't do a very good job of preventing spam.

Of course, there are yahoo products like Pipes and the Yahoo UI, that are both useful. I just don't see this as the great loss that everyone else does.

Joe Beaulaurier said 5:18PM on 2-01-2008

Today's online business environment is based around drawing traffic towards advertising and click-thrus (As you see being done very well at this site btw). Quality content, user-friendly applications and site traffic acquisition channels (e.g. browser default settings) are key to accomplishing that. That being said, melding these two together and keeping the best where they overlap and redirecting traffic will sell a bunch more ads than duking it out separately.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters