Microsoft buys Yahoo — finally
p2pnet news | P2P:- The foreplay is over.
Microsoft is to become Yahoo’s new owner.
It today “agreed to be acquired” by Microsoft, adding $2.6 billion to the original offer of $44.6 billion, says InfoWorld.
“The agreement was reached near midnight last night, thus closing a contentious quarter for the Web company, one rife with in-fighting and power jockeying since Microsoft’s initial offer,” says the story,
“Of the agreed $47.2 billion, $10 billion is in cash and the rest in stock, with $1.12 of Microsoft stock being swapped for each share of Yahoo stock, roughly a 12-cent-per-share premium over Yahoo’s $29.05 closing stock price on Monday.
“The final price — $33 per share vs. the original $31-per-share offer — was less than Yahoo’s board wanted, sources said, but its recent ‘poison pill’ actions such as providing all employees with four to 24 months of severance, based on their level in the company, should they be laid off in an acquisition, limited its ability to obtain a higher offer from either Microsoft or another firm such as Google, said Arbor Research analyst Jane Simons.”
The story has Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang saying, “Being part of Microsoft will let the Yahoo vision reach further than we could have done on our own. And we will provide Microsoft the engine it needs to deliver on its Web-based services vision.”
Yang will join Microsoft as ‘chief Yahoo,’ with specific duties to be determined later, says InfoWorld, adding:
“Employees that Microsoft decides to retain will be offered an Xbox 360 game platform and a Zune music player as tokens of appreciation, in addition to cash grants and stock-option incentives for higher-level employees, Johnson said.”
Adds the story >>>
When the Yahoo acquisition is completed, Microsoft will transition MSN users to Yahoo and leave its MSNBC.com service alone. Ironically, hackers hijacked the MSN DNS addresses shortly after the announcement and redirected all traffic to Google for about 90 minutes, before Microsoft could wrestle back control. Likewise, Yahoo’s DNS was redirected to its Chinese site, which has become a poster child for advocacy groups of corporate complicity in China’s stifling of free speech. Yahoo regained control in less than an hour.
It’s not yet determined which MSN functionality will be moved to the Yahoo site or what Yahoo functionality will be discontinued or changed. But Microsoft will transition to Yahoo’s advertising platform, which has done better than Microsoft’s, although neither has posed a significant threat to Google’s dominance in that sector.
“We expect a six-month transition planning process to make the final decisions,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO.
What’s that they say about many a true thing ….. ?
InfoWorld – SMicrosoft, Yahoo agree on buyout price, April 1, 2008
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April 1st, 2008 at 10:07 am
O RLY?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:41 am
this is a spoof, right?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am
I would say Jon thinks it is. Google the last sentence ….
April 1st, 2008 at 10:56 am
They question Google and Doubleclick, but they don’t question this?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:25 am
got me, I should just not browse the web on April 1st
.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
In any case, I think spoofs have no place here, I intend to be informed, not misinformed; that and the fact that reading these articles sometimes require you to be familiar with the subjects and jargon used, or perhaps the ones that write these articles think they can write, or maybe I needed to have been born in Canada, maybe it’s just English isn’t my native language, although many people say it’s pretty good, meh! I really liked this site. I’ll be at Torrentfreak, later, maybe.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I’ll translate X’s statement for the benefit of all:
I cannot take a joke. I am so serious about myself and you’d better be serious about me, too. I’m kind of a big deal. I’m also stupid and got fooled and was offended by that, just like I was offended back in school days (not so very long ago) when somebody told me the word “gullible” was not in the dictionary and I found, much to my chagrin and embarassment, that the word was in fact in the dictionary and that I had been the victim of a joke. I do not like jokes because I cannot make them myself, being that humor requires intelligence and I am as dull and stupid as a plate of plain macaroni.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
wait- did microsoft buy yahoo or not? now i’m confused..
“Employees that Microsoft decides to retain will be offered an Xbox 360 game platform and a Zune music player as tokens of appreciation,”
i wish microsoft would buy my company…