SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo Inc. invested billions of dollars in its Internet search engine during the past six years before realizing it made more sense to entrust the job to an outsider – hearkening back to a conclusion the company’s co-founders reached shortly after they started their Web directory in the mid-1990s.
The latest shift [...]
Posts Tagged ‘jerry yang’
Microsoft and Yahoo seal deal
July 29th, 2009 |
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Yahoo and Microsoft have announced a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google.
Microsoft’s search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft’s online offering.
Yahoo has been struggling to make profits in recent years.
But it rebuffed several takeover bids from Microsoft in an attempt to go it alone.
"This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development," said Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz.
The deal became possible after Yahoo’s co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as chief executive of the company.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Search giant
July 29th, 2009 |
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ANALYSIS
By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News website
After failing to buy Yahoo outright a year ago, Microsoft has now announced a search and advertising partnership with its former online rival. It’s an important deal, and not just for advertisers.
Poor Yahoo shareholders. They could have pocketed a cool $44.6bn, or $33 a share, when Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo outright. The shares are now trading at just under $16.
Eighteen months on, they have to make do with the promise that Microsoft will help Yahoo to survive and grow by providing a better search, and thus a better advertising platform.
Consumer market
Yahoo’s audience will have to wait at least a year before they will see the difference.
First the deal will have to be shepherded past weary regulators around the world; this will take until early 2010, says Yahoo’s new boss Carol Bartz. It will take another three to six months before Microsoft’s "Bing" search engine starts answering the queries of Yahoo users.
The real benefit will come in the years after that, as Yahoo transforms its web offering and puts search at the centre of the user experience, at long last catching up with how we all use the web these days.
He-who-must-not-be-named
This is not a partnership of love, but necessity. A year ago, I called the proposed Yahoo-Microsoft merger a shotgun wedding, with Google holding the shotgun.
Since then, Google has upgraded its weaponry and extended its lead in search advertising, the one online business model that truly works.
For Yahoo and Microsoft, Google is the enemy who – Harry Potter style – must-not-be-named. During their 45 minute conference call neither Ms Bartz nor Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer used the word Google even once.
Instead they spoke of becoming "a strong number two competitor in the market" and the need to create a credible alternative for advertisers.
Indeed, advertisers will only be too happy to bolster the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership. Whether small online retailers or advertising giants like WPP, many were worried about Google’s near-monopoly in the search advertising market.
Competition will not only keep Google on its toes, but should help to control prices as well.
Technology company no more
Yahoo’s workforce, meanwhile, may well remember the 29th of July as Black Wednesday. The company always saw itself as a technology leader. Not anymore.
The man who fought last year’s takeover bid tooth and nail, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, was forced out, taking with him the sentimental attachment to the firm’s technology roots.
Yahoo is bowing to the inevitable. It simply had neither the resources nor the focus to win the technological arms race for search supremacy.
Yahoo’s search engineers now have the choice of working for erstwhile archenemy Microsoft, scrambling to get one of the few search jobs left at Yahoo, or find themselves on the job market at a time when even Google has stopped hiring.
Centre of life
New no-nonsense boss Carol Bartz wants Yahoo to build instead on its position as the world’s "largest online media company".
"Our vision is to be at the centre of people’s life online," she said after the deal was announced.
More mundanely, Yahoo will become a part of Microsoft’s advertising sales force.
But here is the rub: does Yahoo’s business model as online publisher have a future
Ms Bartz made a great deal of Yahoo’s recent redesign of its home page. But as we use search to find content, home pages are getting increasingly irrelevant.
The traditional search advertising model, meanwhile, could break if old media publishers follow through on their threat to erect pay walls around their content. In another worst-case scenario, much of the content that Yahoo builds on might simply vanish as more and more old media goes out of business.
Little wonder that Yahoo shares were sharply down on news of the deal.
Let’s bing
That leaves Microsoft as the winner.
It won’t make that much money on the deal, but Steve Ballmer frankly acknowledges that this is a long-term investment.
Microsoft gets Yahoo’s search technology, and more importantly he gets direct access to Yahoo’s many users. After all, Yahoo is still the world’s most popular online destination.
Two months ago, this deal would have gone down like a lead balloon. Today it has credibility, ever since Microsoft launched its new "Bing" search engine to generally good reviews.
Mr Ballmer knows that Microsoft still has a lot of work to do before people stop googling and bing instead.
The deal with Yahoo, though, is a platform that his search engineers can build on.
It won’t be a Google killer. But it could, just could, cut into the market leader’s profit margins.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Apple’s record profits buck downturn
July 22nd, 2009 |
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After spending recent months fighting off questions about the health of chief executive Steve Jobs, iPod maker Apple today shrugged off its critics by announcing some of the best financial results in its history.
Despite the economic gloom, the Californian technology giant reported revenues for the three months to the end of June of $8.34bn – up almost 12% from the same time last year. That generated profits of $1.23bn, a 15% increase on this time in 2008, and a record amount for the company outside of the Christmas season.
The success was achieved largely thanks to the launch of the new iPhone 3GS, which went on sale in June – as well as renewed interest in the company’s Macintosh computers. Sales of iPods were down year-on-year, although the company hinted that more models were on the way later this year.
“We’re proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” Jobs, who returned to work a few weeks ago after undergoing life-saving liver transplant surgery, said in a statement.
“We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone, and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.”
During a six-month leave of absence, the company was run by chief operating officer Tim Cook, whose successful command underscores the view of many that he is set to be Jobs’s successor.
But Apple’s fortunes contrasted sharply with those of Yahoo, which reported another disappointing quarter.
Revenues for the past three months dwindled to $1.573bn, down 13% year on year, while profits dropped to $76m – a 25% fall from the same period in 2008.
The company said it had been hit heavily by currency fluctuations, which accounted for nearly 5% of the fall in revenue, but insisted that the figures represented a “solid quarter” in the face of wider economic turmoil.
“I’m pleased with our results this past quarter,” said chief executive Carol Bartz. “We established a clear, simple vision to be the centre of people’s lives online, and we’re backing that vision with important initiatives to create ‘wow’ experiences for our users.”
The company was keen to point to the recent relaunch of its homepage, one of the web’s most popular portals – but those words seem foolhardy just days after Yahoo’s main rival posted results that bucked the downturn entirely. Although Google’s overall revenues were flat for the last quarter, the company eked out efficiencies to post an 18% increase in profit year on year.
That will not have gone unnoticed at Yahoo, where the company’s inexorable slide has been taking place for several years – ending the rule of a succession of executives who were unable to prevent the rot from taking hold as Yahoo. Most recently co-founder Jerry Yang stepped aside as CEO in January to be replaced by tough-talking technology veteran Bartz. However, despite attempting to streamline and reorganise the company, she has yet to make a noticeable impact on the bottom line.
The numbers will also make intriguing reading for executives at Microsoft, after reports last week that the Seattle technology giant was close to signing a deal with its Silicon Valley rival.
The two companies have had a testy relationship ever since Microsoft launched a $45bn takeover bid for Yahoo last year – but even so, they are believed to be closing in on a deal that could see Microsoft take control of Yahoo’s search engine for around $3bn.
Microsoft is desperate to take on Google and gain more traction in the lucrative search advertising market – but Martin McNulty, director of search marketing specialist Trafficbroker, said that the raised more questions than it answered.
“The results are really just a sideshow to the main event right now, and that’s the potential deal with Microsoft,” he said. “It’s unclear why Yahoo can’t stand on its own two feet, as it still commands a significant market share in search queries and advertising revenues globally.”
“Even if the deal does go ahead,” he added, “A Microsoft-Yahoo collaboration is unlikely to offer an increased threat to Google, which, brand and technology-wise, is in a league of its own.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Apple bucks recession with record profits
July 21st, 2009 |
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After spending recent months fighting off questions about the health of chief executive Steve Jobs, iPod maker Apple today shrugged off its critics by announcing some of the best financial results in its history.
Despite the economic gloom, the Californian technology giant reported revenues for the three months to the end of June of $8.34bn – up almost 12% from the same time last year. That generated profits of $1.23bn, a 15% increase on this time in 2008, and a record amount for the company outside of the Christmas season.
The success was achieved largely thanks to the launch of the new iPhone 3GS, which went on sale in June – as well as renewed interest in the company’s Macintosh computers. Sales of iPods were down year-on-year, although the company hinted that more models were on the way later this year.
“We’re proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” Jobs, who returned to work a few weeks ago after undergoing life-saving liver transplant surgery, said in a statement.
“We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone, and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months.”
During a six-month leave of absence, the company was run by chief operating officer Tim Cook, whose successful command underscores the view of many that he is set to be Jobs’s successor.
But Apple’s fortunes contrasted sharply with those of Yahoo, which reported another disappointing quarter.
Revenues for the past three months dwindled to $1.573bn, down 13% year on year, while profits dropped to $76m – a 25% fall from the same period in 2008.
The company said it had been hit heavily by currency fluctuations, which accounted for nearly 5% of the fall in revenue, but insisted that the figures represented a “solid quarter” in the face of wider economic turmoil.
“I’m pleased with our results this past quarter,” said chief executive Carol Bartz. “We established a clear, simple vision to be the centre of people’s lives online, and we’re backing that vision with important initiatives to create ‘wow’ experiences for our users.”
The company was keen to point to the recent relaunch of its homepage, one of the web’s most popular portals – but those words seem foolhardy just days after Yahoo’s main rival posted results that bucked the downturn entirely. Although Google’s overall revenues were flat for the last quarter, the company eked out efficiencies to post an 18% increase in profit year on year.
That will not have gone unnoticed at Yahoo, where the company’s inexorable slide has been taking place for several years – ending the rule of a succession of executives who were unable to prevent the rot from taking hold as Yahoo. Most recently co-founder Jerry Yang stepped aside as CEO in January to be replaced by tough-talking technology veteran Bartz. However, despite attempting to streamline and reorganise the company, she has yet to make a noticeable impact on the bottom line.
The numbers will also make intriguing reading for executives at Microsoft, after reports last week that the Seattle technology giant was close to signing a deal with its Silicon Valley rival.
The two companies have had a testy relationship ever since Microsoft launched a $45bn takeover bid for Yahoo last year – but even so, they are believed to be closing in on a deal that could see Microsoft take control of Yahoo’s search engine for around $3bn.
Microsoft is desperate to take on Google and gain more traction in the lucrative search advertising market – but Martin McNulty, director of search marketing specialist Trafficbroker, said that the raised more questions than it answered.
“The results are really just a sideshow to the main event right now, and that’s the potential deal with Microsoft,” he said. “It’s unclear why Yahoo can’t stand on its own two feet, as it still commands a significant market share in search queries and advertising revenues globally.”
“Even if the deal does go ahead,” he added, “A Microsoft-Yahoo collaboration is unlikely to offer an increased threat to Google, which, brand and technology-wise, is in a league of its own.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Microsoft and Yahoo deal rumoured
July 17th, 2009 |
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After almost 18 months of increasingly bitter negotiations, Microsoft is said to be closing in on a deal to buy technology rival Yahoo’s web search business.
Several reports emerged late on Thursday suggesting that late-stage talks were under way between the two companies, opening up the distinct possibility that Microsoft could finally take control of Yahoo’s search engine division.
An analyst with institutional investor ThinkEquity was quoted by investment website 24/7 Wall Street as saying a deal was “imminent”, while sources told influential Silicon Valley blog All Things Digital that an agreement was close to being completed.
It is not clear what the precise terms of the deal on offer are, but according to 24/7 Wall Street, it could see Microsoft shell out around $3bn (£1.8bn) to take over Yahoo’s search advertising operation. The deal, it suggests, would also see Microsoft agree to share revenue from the search business with Yahoo for several years.
Such a pact would bring to an end the tortured negotiations between the two companies, but it would be an incredible climbdown for Yahoo – which turned down the possibility of far more money when Microsoft launched an unsolicited $45bn bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety last February.
That offer was largely seen as an attempt by Microsoft to gain control of its rival’s search business, since the Seattle software giant has been desperate to increase its share of the lucrative search advertising market for several years. But Yahoo rejected it, saying that it believed it was worth far more money.
In the interim, relations between the two companies have been cool – and both sides have rejected rumours of reported negotiations.
However, with the two companies’ chief rival, Google, appearing not only increasingly powerful but also apparently immune to the worst effects of the recession, things could be changing once again. Microsoft’s attempt to claw back market share with its relaunched search engine – now called Bing – has failed to make immediate inroads, leaving the Windows giant still looking for a way to make its mark in the industry.
Taking control of Yahoo’s search business would give Microsoft almost 30% of the American market, more than trebling its sphere of influence.
According to figures from ComScore, Google controls around 65% of the search market in the US, with Yahoo 19.5% and Microsoft trailing in third with a little over 8%. Internationally, Google is even stronger.
Such a deal would be a further hammer blow to the reputation of Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who led the charge against Microsoft and sparked a war of words with rival CEO Steve Ballmer.
Since the negotiations between the two collapsed late last year, however, Yahoo has brought in a new CEO, Carol Bartz – who may take a more pragmatic view of the situation given Yahoo’s financial struggles.
The company is due to release its latest quarterly results next week, and may be hoping that any agreement with Microsoft could take the edge off a disappointing fiscal period.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Sun Valley Media Conference Photos: Mogulmania Day 3!
July 11th, 2009 |
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The Allen & Company retreat in Sun Valley wound down Friday, but not before we were able to catch glimpses of several moguls for the first time this year.
Familiar names like Jeff Zucker, Brad Grey, Jerry Yang, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mike Ovitz,…