Investors say Microsoft Search can&#39;t edge out Google and Yahoo
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So far, none of the respondents expected Microsoft to win a significant market share from Google and Yahoo. In the survey, Google clearly led the field in ease of use and search result quality, while Yahoo leveled with Google on additional features.
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Shares of Google Inc., the world&#39;s most-used Internet search engine, may continue to rise as the company boosts advertising revenue, research analysts at securities firms that underwrote
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Googleâs management team has an obsession with Microsoft, and that oversensitivity may well cloud their reaction to the prospect of Microsoft buying Yahoo.
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Microsoft might be king of the software world, but it's having to play catch up in the increasingly important world of Internet and desktop search, chasing the substantial leads of Google, Yahoo and others.
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Web surfers from Beijing to Berkeley have made Google their search engine of choice, but some of Europe's institutional investors have gone sour on the dot-com on the eve of its initial public offering.
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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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Microsoft Corp  has showed early signs of narrowing the gap with Google Inc  in its Web business, leading Wall Street to ask whether the world's biggest software company may be able to turn an overlooked unit into a financial powerhouse.
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Yahoo Inc  is  reportedly in talks with News Corp (NWSa.N) to combine their  Web properties, but Wall Street analysts rained scorn on the  likelihood of a deal that can fend off Microsoft Corp's   $42.1 billion bid for Yahoo.
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Web surfers from Beijing to Berkeley have made Google their search engine of choice, but some of Europe&#39;s institutional investors have gone sour on the dot-com on the eve of its ...
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SAN JOSE - Google Inc.&#39;s long-awaited expansion of its search tools from the Internet to individual computers takes advantage of the company&#39;s core technology as well as a weakness in Microsoft Corp.
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Yahoo&#39;s rejection of Microsoft&#39;s acquisition bid&#160;is likely a negotiating strategy to elicit a higher offer and shouldn&#39;t be seen as an attempt to resist a deal at all costs, according to analysts.Neither Microsoft nor Yahoo has many options to improve their position in online services and advertising, and combining forces is their best bet against common rival Google, analysts said.&quot;It&#39;s part of a larger negotiation that&#39;s occurring. Clearly, Yahoo should be and is seeking a higher bid, and this is part of that process,&quot; said Clayton Moran, a financial analyst with Stanford Group.Yahoo is unlikely to find a company willing to bid as much as Microsoft for it, while Microsoft will not be able to attain its Internet goals by acquiring a company other than Yahoo. &quot;While they need to negotiate and go through the process, at the end of the day this deal will happen,&quot; Moran said.On Monday, Yahoo rejected Microsoft&#39;s bid, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft offered to pay $31 for half of Yahoo&#39;s outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. At the time of the offer, Microsoft&#39;s stock stood at $32.60 and the bid was valued at $44.6 billion, a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s stock price at the time. However, the bid&#39;s value has dropped with Microsoft&#39;s sliding stock price, which at press time was $28.10. At the same time, Yahoo&#39;s stock price has risen from a close of $19.18 on the day before the bid to $29.75 at press time.Moran predicted that Microsoft will adjust its offer so that it ends up at $35 per share, probably increasing the fixed cash portion and reducing the variable stock portion so that value is less vulnerable to Microsoft stock fluctuations. A $35-per-share offer would be a midpoint between the original bid and the $40 per share Yahoo is reportedly seeking.&quot;We continue to view a Yahoo sale to Microsoft as the most likely outcome,&quot; Citigroup financial analysts wrote in a note published Sunday after press reports over the weekend that Yahoo would reject the Microsoft bid. The rejection isn&#39;t surprising but rather is consistent with Yahoo&#39;s board job to &quot;extract maximum value&quot; for shareholders, the Citigroup analysts wrote.Yahoo has reportedly held talks with Google and AOL to explore alternatives to a Microsoft acquisition. One scenario being floated would be for Yahoo to outsource its search advertising business to Google, while another, reported Monday by The Times of London, has Yahoo and Time Warner&#39;s AOL discussing a possible merger.However, neither option would match the potential benefits of an acquisition by Microsoft, Moran said. &quot;A combined Yahoo-AOL wouldn&#39;t be particularly strong, and Yahoo&#39;s stock wouldn&#39;t react favorably to that deal,&quot; Moran said. A search partnership with Google would boost Yahoo&#39;s revenue, but it wouldn&#39;t address larger problems within the company, he said.For Moran, if Yahoo has approached AOL, it has done so probably to send a message to Microsoft that it has other options and that Microsoft has to sweeten its offer. Meanwhile, Google&#39;s intervention is probably directed at complicating and lengthening the negotiation process between Microsoft and Yahoo and thus delaying the formation of a stronger rival, Moran said.While merging with AOL is unlikely to give Yahoo the boost it needs, such a deal would probably be more palatable to Yahoo&#39;s management because Yahoo would be the strongest party in the fusion, according to industry analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.&quot;Yahoo sees its own demise in a Microsoft acquisition. My sense is that Yahoo&#39;s management believes that Yahoo&#39;s soul wouldn&#39;t survive as part of Microsoft,&quot; Sterling said.At this point, the situation is very complicated for both Microsoft and Yahoo. If Yahoo is intent on fending off Microsoft&#39;s advances at all costs, Microsoft could opt to walk away empty-handed and face a public embarrassment, or attempt a hostile takeover, which could alienate and scare away Yahoo employees it would want to retain, Sterling said.At the same time, Yahoo can&#39;t simply wave away a generous Microsoft offer if it doesn&#39;t have an alternative to it, Sterling said. &quot;There is a great deal at stake for both sides, and it&#39;s very complicated,&quot; he said.Microsoft declined to comment about Yahoo&#39;s rejection. AOL didn&#39;t immediately reply to a request for comment about its reported merger talks with Yahoo.
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WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO  - Google Inc  so  dominates the online search and advertising market that  regulators are seen approving any merger of Microsoft Corp   and Yahoo  after giving the deal a close look,  antitrust experts said on Friday.
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Microsoft&#39;s latest step into the enormously profitable search sector is unlikely to win any first-stop commitments from users, but the signs are promising.
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Yahoo has not reached a decision about&#160;Microsoft&#39;s acquisition offer&#160;and is considering &quot;a wide range of potential strategic alternatives,&quot; Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said in an e-mail to employees on Wednesday.In the e-mail, which was addressed to &quot;yahoos&quot; and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Yang said the Yahoo board is still reviewing the deal and will &quot;take the time it needs to do it right.&quot;&quot;Our board is thoughtfully evaluating a wide range of potential strategic alternatives in what is a complex and evolving landscape,&quot; he wrote in the e-mail, typed in all lowercase letters.Microsoft made its unsolicited bid for Yahoo last Friday, offering to pay $44.6 billion for the company, or 62 percent over Yahoo&#39;s closing share price Thursday. The deal would greatly expand Microsoft&#39;s search and advertising business and could help it to compete better with Google online.Yahoo is understood to be lukewarm on the offer. The company hopes a rival suitor will emerge with a counteroffer or that it can forge a deal with Google that will allow it to remain independent, according to Wednesday&#39;s Wall Street Journal newspaper, which cited unnamed sources.However, analysts have said it is unlikely another company could match Microsoft&#39;s sizeable offer, and a business deal between Yahoo and Google could raise antitrust concerns because of Google&#39;s already dominant market position.In the e-mail, Yang thanked the Yahoo staff for staying focused on their work amid the turmoil. The company has hired &quot;top advisors&quot; to assist it through the process and is focused on maximizing value for its shareholders, he said.
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TechWeb - The rise of Google, Yahoo and specialized search providers has radically altered our perception of information access, yet enterprise search implementations haven't kept up with the transformation in the consumer world. Plenty of vendors are developing breakthroughs, but the missing player has been Microsoft, and many believe progress in enterprise search is being held hostage by long and unwieldy upgrade cycles for systems including Windows, Office and SharePoint. Look beyond quick fixes and bring search into your strategic information management strategy.
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Microsoft and Google look set to clash over their rival ways of searching desktop computers.
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With Yahooâs shares up slightly on the news that its board has officially rejected the $31 a share bid from Microsoft, it appears investors are betting the company is looking for a better deal.