Advert worries hit Yahoo shares
231649
Yahoo shares slump 13% after the search firm says weaker financial and car advertising will affect quarterly revenues.
325281
Microsoft&#39;s offer Friday to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion in cash and shares put a turbulent end to a heavy earnings week in which forecasts from Internet leaders worried IT investors.Internet leaders Google, Yahoo, and Amazon and a host of high-profile technology vendors this week reported fourth-quarter sales and generally muted forecasts for the next few quarters.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer&#39;s offer letter to Yahoo&#39;s board of directors&#160;on Thursday went public Friday morning, having an immediate effect on company share prices. The offer represents a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s closing price on Thursday. In premarket trading, Yahoo shares skyrocketed. Shares closed at $28.38, up by $9.20, or 47.97 percent.Though most analysts said the deal would not likely hurt Google in the short term, Google shares closed down by $48.40, at $515.90. Shares of Microsoft, which has never done a deal this size, were down by $2.15, closing at $30.45.Considering Yahoo&#39;s likely earnings and share price increases without an acquisition, for the price Microsoft is willing to pay, the offer &quot;seems like a great deal,&quot; said Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney in a research note.The proposal capped off a heavy earnings-report week. Though sales for the fourth quarter generally were strong, key companies, including Google and high-flying virtualization technology vendor VMware, fell short of analyst expectations.In the current economic climate in the United States, where many analysts are predicting a recession, market watchers pounce on bad news.Yahoo&#39;s fourth-quarter revenue increased, but profit fell to $206 million&#160;from $269 million one year earlier. During its financial conference call Wednesday, CEO Jerry Yang announced that the company would be laying off about 1,000 workers and talked about the U.S. economy hitting the company with &quot;headwinds.&quot;Analysts worry that the company&#39;s Panama search engine ad system, rolled out last year, has not had the positive effect that was expected. They also note that the company is vague about expected investments and that it is appearing to lose further ground to Google in the search market.In a research note, Citigroup Global Markets Equity Research downgraded its opinion on Yahoo from &quot;buy&quot; to &quot;hold.&quot; But after the Microsoft offer went public, Citigroup called the move &quot;a good fit to fix an ongoing issue.&quot;Though&#160;Google on Thursday reported a 51 percent year-on-year revenue increase&#160;to $4.83 billion for the quarter, earnings per share excluding certain items were $4.43, just below the $4.44 consensus analyst forecast. While most companies would be ecstatic to report such strong growth, the market had gotten used to Google continuing to blow past all expectations.Many market watchers take Google&#39;s miss as a sign that the faltering economy is braking the search giant. If consumers cut back spending, Google may experience a slackening in consumers&#39; desire to click on advertising. The company&#39;s continuing reliance on search revenue is bothering investors. That issue may be worrying investors more than potential competition with a merged Microsoft-Yahoo.One bright note for the week in the Internet sector was Amazon&#39;s earnings announcement on Wednesday. Amazon revenue grew 42 percent, to $5.67 billion, as income more than doubled, to $207 million. While the company&#39;s forecast for operating margins was lower than expected, its revenue forecast was higher than expected -- welcome news in a climate of worry.Then on Thursday,&#160;Amazon announced it would buy Audible.com , which sparked interest as the acquisition may help its battle against Apple in the market for spoken-word books, magazines, and radio programs. Amazon shares jumped by $3.49 to close at $77.70 Thursday, though they then drifted back down Friday.Outside the Internet arena, companies in a variety of sectors, including Lenovo, SAP, Verizon, and TSMC, reported strong fourth-quarter sales (though in SAP&#39;s case, profit was brought down by its acquisition of Business Objects). However, as usual in these times of economic uncertainty, it was&#160;VMware&#39;s disappointing quarter and weak forecast &#160;that captured the most attention.The company share price lost 34 percent of its value after VMware said Monday that revenue was $412.5 million, compared to analyst expectations of $417.4 million. Even though profit doubled, it was the revenue miss that had everyone nervous as hopes for the company were high after its red-hot IPO in December.&quot;The company&#39;s 2008 outlook suggests that low hanging fruit may have been picked and new customer signings could be slowing down,&quot; according to a UBS research note. This comment is probably right on the money. Most big-company CIOs consider server virtualization an obvious tactical move and have already implemented the technology.By market close Friday, excitement over the Microsoft offer for Yahoo may have helped push the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index into positive territory. It closed at 2413.36, up by 23.50. As economic uncertainty rules, however, IT investors are bracing for a bumpy ride over the next few quarters.
484193
The surprise offer of $31 a share, which represents a 62 percent premium to Thursdayâs closing price, would bring relief to Yahooâs long-suffering shareholders.
179415
Skeptical investors are trading Yahoo Inc  shares at a 6.5 percent discount to Microsoft Corp's  unofficial offer price, but some Wall Streeters expect the software giant to raise its bid.
669970
The stakes are getting higher for one of the advertising industry&#39;s biggest holding companies. With talk of a sale or breakup of France&#39;s Havas, reports emerged yesterday
265407
Zimbra customers are deeply concerned about&#160;Microsoft&#39;s bid for Yahoo&#160;because they feel that the deal would mean the end of the Zimbra collaboration and communication suite.
552995
Sobering expectations â foreshadowed on Sunday when management announced the lower prices â weighed on the companyâs already drooping stock.
29461
Yahoo Inc. chief Jerry Yang was found wanting on Wednesday by investors who said the company needed to devise a plan to combat weaker advertising growth more quickly than in the 100 days promised by management.
355013
Shares in the search engine might double as the IPO lockup period expires.
146018
SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Inc. warned yesterday that slowing ad growth will depress its third-quarter results, marking the Internet powerhouse's latest letdown.
169578
Yahooâs rebuff of the $44.6 billion takeover bid raises the stakes in a battle involving two of the worldâs most prominent technology companies.
329028
A rumor brought to light this morning by notorious financial insider and blogger Henry Blodget may this time be true, as Yahoo's response appears to warn of bad news ahead in its next restructuring move.
320919
Business & money: Fears that shares will end up being nearly worthless.
80819
Shares of radio station operators sank in Friday trading, saddled by a report raising concerns that future growth could be limited as advertising demand wanes amid fierce competition from personal media players and satellite radio.
493146
Business & money: Online search firm Yahoo, subject to takeover interest from Microsoft, tells of rival offer from News Corp
139198
Many Yahoo shareholders are waiting for a higher bid than that offered by Microsoft, but analysts say it is increasingly unlikely.
177979
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO  - Yahoo Inc.  and AT&T Inc.  are negotiating potentially sweeping changes that could scale back their partnership, the Wall Street Journal reported, dragging Yahoo shares down 5.2 percent.