AT&T, Yahoo partnership at risk: report
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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 5.3 percent.
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Yahoo Inc.'s recently resurgent stock retreated by more than 5 percent Friday amid fears that a setback in a lucrative partnership with AT&amp;T Inc. will undercut the anticipated gains from an overhaul of the Web portal's advertising platform.
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Privacy groups are promising a fight before U.S. regulatory agencies if&#160;Microsoft&#39;s offer to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion is accepted, and the deal could face significant hurdles in Europe as well.Microsoft announced that it&#160;sent an offer to Yahoo&#39;s board of directors&#160;on Thursday, going public with the news Friday morning. Immediately, the executive directors of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said the acquisition would raise serious privacy concerns.CDD will press the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and Congress to &quot;scrutinize this deal and impose the needed safeguards for it -- and the industry,&quot; said Jeffrey Chester, CDD&#39;s executive director. CDD and EPIC tried to stop Google&#39;s proposed acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick on privacy grounds before the FTC last year, but the FTC approved the deal in December.The Microsoft-Yahoo deal, if consummated, would &quot;create a powerful interactive Internet duopoly in online media,&quot; Chester said. &quot;Google and Microsoft will have inordinate power to shape the online communications marketplace, including journalism, entertainment and advertising. There are consequences to democratic societies everywhere, as two digital gatekeepers are likely to control how the Internet and other interactive media evolve.&quot;The proposed deal also underscores a need for new laws or regulations that protect consumer data, Chester added. &quot;In an era when individuals are increasingly conducting their personal, social and political lives online, the corporations that control the digital experience will have a far-reaching influence over every aspect of society,&quot; he said. &quot;Consumers will be more vulnerable to having their personal information become the property of the GoogleClick&#39;s and Microhoo&#39;s.&quot;But the DOJ and FTC may have little grounds to oppose a Microsoft/Yahoo merger, said Professor Keith Hylton, who specializes in antitrust issues at the Boston University law school. While Microsoft and Yahoo compete in some areas, Microsoft could argue this a &quot;vertical&quot; merger that largely expands its online services, but largely doesn&#39;t eliminate competition, he said.&quot;I think Microsoft is trying to ramp up in the online services/online ad revenue business,&quot; Hylton said. &quot;Microsoft is a small player in that area, and Google is a big player. This is a merger of two firms trying to compete against a big monster out there -- Google.&quot;But the deal could face more hurdles in Europe. If the deal allows Microsoft to take components of Windows online, and &quot;in the process increases Microsoft&#39;s dominance of the market for PC operating systems,&quot; then the European Commission would have to prohibit the deal, said an antitrust lawyer in Europe who asked not to be identified.European Union merger rules prohibit dominant companies from increasing their dominance, the lawyer said.The combined company would likely have sell off an instant-messaging service, added a European Commission official familiar with the competition department. &quot;I can&#39;t see how Microsoft/Yahoo would be allowed to keep both instant-messaging services,&quot; said the official, who also asked not to be identified.Microsoft campaigned for federal regulators to block the Google-DoubleClick deal, partly on antitrust grounds. But Google argued the acquisition would join two companies operating in different online markets.This week, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia extended antitrust scrutiny of Microsoft for two years. But the U.S. government&#39;s antitrust case against Microsoft was based on its desktop and server operating systems, not online services. If anything, the old antitrust case could help Microsoft make the case for approval of its acquisition of Yahoo, Hylton said.&quot;I assume Microsoft people can say, &#39;Look, we&#39;re already under a microscope, doesn&#39;t this suggest we&#39;re less likely to do anticompetitive things?&#39;&quot; Hylton said.But a consolidating online market means users will have their data held by a small number of companies, said Professor Joseph Turow, at University of Pennsylvania school of communication.&quot;Microsoft&#39;s decision to buy Yahoo is a direct result of the decision by the FTC to allow Google to purchase DoubleClick,&quot; he said. &quot;It is further evidence that despite the appearance of unlimited choice in the new media environment, people&#39;s activities will be tracked and shaped by a very small number of companies who care far more about surveillance and targeted advertising than the public interest.&quot;The public needs to demand privacy scrutiny in the proposed deal, he said. &quot;The federal government, which should have been the guardian of the public interest, has dropped the ball.&quot;(Additional reporting by Paul Meller in Brussels.)
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A published report says AT&T wants to change its years-long partnership with Yahoo, which AT&T feels provides fewer benefits than in the past.
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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 5.3 percent.
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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO  - AT&T Inc. and Yahoo  Inc.  are negotiating how they could expand a broadband  promotion deal to cover mobile Internet services and  advertising, a source familiar with the talks said on Friday.
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By PULLAR-STRECKER Tom  TELECOM is understood to be confident a top-level shakeup at Yahoo in the United States will not derail negotiations between the companies for an online partnership that would help pave the way for the sale of Telecom's Yellow Pages business next year.
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According to a story by The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo's board plans to send a letter to Microsoft on Monday saying that the software vendor's $44.6 billion merger offer "massively undervalues" the online services company.
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Internet giant Yahoo on Wednesday announced partnership agreements with six leading Asian mobile phone operators with a combined subscriber base of nearly 100 million.
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By Kim Hart, Washington Post Staff Writer  Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. joined forces yesterday on the instant messaging front, allowing users of their systems to communicate with each other and rivaling AOL's messaging system for the top spot.
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Yahoo Inc. is discussing a possible partnership with News Corp. in its latest effort to repel Microsoft Corp. or prod its unsolicited suitor into raising its current takeover bid, according to a person familiar with the talks.
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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 5.3 percent.
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Yahoo Inc.  and a loose  consortium of newspaper publishers are considering a  partnership that would include Web classifieds, local news, and  content packages based on general themes like travel,  BusinessWeek magazine reported on Thursday.
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Yahooâs board decided that Microsoftâs $44.6 billion hostile bid undervalues Yahoo, a person involved in the discussions said.
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U.S. and European antitrust regulators aren't likely to prevent Microsoft from buying Yahoo, analysts said Friday, though scrutiny of the deal could drag on for months.
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Yahoo Inc  insiders are  mulling ties to rival Google Inc  as a possible defense  to rebuff Microsoft Corp's  takeover bid, a person  familiar with Yahoo management's thinking said on Sunday.
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Yahoo Inc  ousted archrival  Google Inc  as T-Mobile's top Internet partner in  Europe as it unveiled a service to squeeze social Web  connections on to cell phone screens, a day after rebuffing a  $41.6 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp .