FTC eyeing Microsoft, Yahoo!
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Google-DoubleClick probe just the beginning Two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission opened an anti-trust investigation into Googleâs proposed acquisition of online ad company DoubleClick, The Wall Street Journal reports that the FTC plans to examine deals by Microsoft and Yahoo! as well.â¦
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DECEMBER 10, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Ask Jeeves Inc. are all set to jump into the desktop search market, two months after Internet search leader Google Inc.
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Early this morning, The New York Times reported that the US Federal Trade Commission would be expanding its otherwise normal investigation into the prospective merger deal between contextual advertising giant Google and display advertising giant DoubleClick, by issuing Google a "second request" for more information late last week.  Analysts are saying the FTC may be acting on the behest of none other than Microsoft.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is  investigating Microsoft Corp&#39;s  planned acquisition of  aQuantive Inc  as well as Yahoo Inc.&#39;s   proposed deal to take full control of Right Media Inc., The  Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigatingÂ Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick, according to news reports Tuesday. The investigation began at the end of last week as a result of concerns over privacy issues and the potential for anti-competitive practices, the New York Times reported, quoting anonymous sources. The two companies announced the all-cash agreement last month, with both Google and Microsoft pursuing the online advertising company, as the competition between the two for a greater share of the online ad market increases. Privacy groups, including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD),Â filed a complaint with the FTCÂ on April 20, asking that the government agency block the merger unless Google will ensure users' privacy, including deleting information that could identify an individual user once that user ends his or her session with a Google site. Antitrust issues are likely to be of greater concern than privacy ones, with regulators more concerned about the merger's effect on other online ad players and their ability to compete against the new combined entity, the report said. Â
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Google could help keep Yahoo away from Microsoft if it took over selling search ads for Yahoo in return for a very large check. That money could help finance all sorts of possible deals.
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InfoWorld - While observers believe that Microsoft is willing to pay Yahoo $44 billion primarily for its users and advertising base, Microsoft's chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, wants to grow its developer community as well.
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If you search for Yahoo Microsoft, this page is the second hit. I like that of course. It's generating a fair amount of flow, since the combination of Yahoo and Microsoft is a pretty hot topic. Keeping the topic going, I think it's pretty amazing that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo, but then again, which of all their web efforts has captured our imagination? At least Yahoo has Flickr, and when they try something new, we all try it with them (often with not the greatest results). The rambling continues... If Yahoo is into poison pills, try this one out.  Reserve 5 percent of Yahoo's common stock for blogger options. Put us to work to find new businesses for Yahoo, ones that are relevant to our world. When we find them, reward the bloggers with a significant upside stake in Yahoo's future, not the airy-fairy kind, but real stock that we can trade. Handled properly, it could raise shareholder value by much more than 5 percent. Just the kind of deal they pay you to do, oh Yahoo gods and board members.  Of course it'll never happen. It's an idea like the one I keep proposing for newspapers -- that they hire their public editors from the public, independent bloggers with no journalism experience, with no undue reverence for the institutions so revered by journos. They're going away, just like Yahoo is (sad but true). Now what will rise in their place? Imho, something that's home grown, with the integrity of the people, in our interest. The more they invite the public in, the more clued in they will be when we figure out where we want to go with news on the web. It's why I'm excited about the Obama campaign and why I keep giving to it (I'm up to $400 now). I'm excited because so many other people are excited.  I like his idea about tuition for public service for college students. It's so simple. People want to be involved, they want to use their energy and creativity to solve problems. In the 20th century we were couch potatoes. In the 21st we do it for ourselves.  The first tech company that fully embraces this, not just in the form of User Generated Content (what an insult) but by giving us power (that comes from stock) will rule the world. If Y! had the guts, it won't be long before they're making tender offers to buy out Ballmer.  BTW, I think I understand why Ballmer wants Yahoo! When Yahoo engineers wake up they program stuff like Yahoo Live, which is pretty cool and runs on the web, and while it steals ideas from smaller companies, it adds some pretty cool stuff of its own. When Microsoft engineers wake up they program stuff like Vista, a multi-year, multi-billion dollar waste of money, time and customer goodwill. They can't do another Vista without wrecking the franchise. Now the question is -- where do they go for growth? That's what Yahoo is for.
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Microsoft is turning to debt to finance its Yahoo! deal.  The stakes must be very, very high.
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Buying, selling, jumping, and dumping -- it's been a busy week in technology. And like the news, this quiz has Yahoo all over it. Can you acquire a perfect score? It's harder than it looks. Award yourself 10 points for each correct answer (sorry, no partials this time). Ready? Then get cracking.1. It turns out Yahoo isn't emotionally unavailable, it's just playing hard to get. What did Yahoo hint would help Microsoft close the deal?a. A seat on the Microsoft board for Jerry Yang b. $40 a share c. Retaining Yahoo brands (don't forget the exclamation point!) d. A restraining order keeping Steve Ballmer 800 miles from SunnyvaleTake the InfoWorld news quiz
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Mike Arrington is doing a great job of laying out the options for Yahoo wrt Microsoft's offer to buy them out. He's written two pieces that helped put it together for me. Mike clearly has great sources in the investment banking community and among potential buyers of Yahoo, and is actively talking with them. He's got a business lawyer's mind and, as you know I'm sure, he's spent the last few years immersed in web applications.  Bottom-line: Yahoo's three choices are: 1. Tough it out alone. 2. Sell advertising rights to Google. 3. Accept Microsoft's offer.  Mike argues that option 1 would result in shareholder lawsuits and in the end would get Yahoo nowhere because they'd end up selling to Microsoft eventually. Option 2 would enable them to pay a major cash dividend to their shareholders, making up for the lost windfall coming from Microsoft's offer. Options 2 and 3 have the risk of being rejected by government regulators.  Now, as a member of Yahoo's developer community, and generally a respector of Yahoo (is that a word) -- I say take the deal. I don't think Yahoo has ever had leadership that has been up to navigating the treacherous waters of tech industry economics and politics. At least with the Microsoft acquisition they would get one -- Ray Ozzie. He's a guy you can sit across the table from and plot something out and he can deliver. I've had many good meetings with Yahoo people, but rarely have they resulted in action. From my own selfish point of view, Microsoft owning Yahoo might mean that Ray makes more trips to the Bay Area (figuratively) and when he sits down, we can talk about new open interfaces and developer programs for Yahoo properties. I've read most of the commentary on the Yahoo deal, and the other piece that made an impression was Mark Cuban's. He says that Yahoo should accept the Microsoft deal because it would give them the breathing room they need re Wall Street. He argues that the market has always allowed Microsoft to sink resources into developing markets, and that's exactly what Yahoo needs to become the organization that it has been trying to be. Instead, the market treats Yahoo as a comp to Google, but Yahoo doesn't have the economics of Google, so that's, long-term, a losing battle.  There's one more reason I think Yahoo should sell to Microsoft -- the fatigue of the people. The company has been wobbly too long. If they don't take the Microsoft offer it's going to be a long wobbly decline and the shareholders will be right to be angry. Here's their chance to get out, it's time, so just do it.
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SEARCH outfit Yahoo! has splashed out on an email software company that develops software technology that allows users to quickly search through mails and attachments.
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Microsoft has the software. Yahoo! has the ad revenue. Together they can challenge Google. Among the likely winners: online advertisers.
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Internet-centered programs that compete with the core products of Microsoft are a driver of its bid for Yahoo.
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The upcoming 700MHz spectrum auctions by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)&#160;have drawn bid applications from giant companies including Google and AT&amp;T. But a number of small companies and individuals have submitted bid applications as well.
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Google took a step closer to its acquisition of online advertising server DoubleClick on Thursday, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the sale. One major hurdle still remaining is approval by the European Commission.
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The FTC is set to investigate word-of-mouth advertising in which paid shills pretend to be average consumers. In Game|Life.