This day in search marketing history: February 11
Yahoo officially rejects Microsoft, plus: passage ranking goes live, Google's SEO consulting services, Google Japan's link penalty and more.
Topic: History of Yahoo
This day in search marketing history: February 4
MicroHoo Day 4, plus: Google expands phrase match, Google Adds JSON-LD support, reconsideration requests and more.
Yahoo Communications Head Jill Nash To Depart
Jill Nash, the head of communications at Yahoo, is leaving the company. According to AllThingsD, Nash is “spent” after the transition from Terry Semel to Jerry Yang and the roller coaster of MicroHoo. She spent two years at the company, originally coming from The GAP. Arguably she had to manage corp. communications during the company’s […]
MSFT CEO Ballmer to Yahoo: No New Bid
Speaking at the “Web 2.0” conference in San Francisco earlier this week Yahoo CEO seemed to invite Microsoft to make another acquisition bid for the portal. “To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo,” the BBC quotes Yang telling interviewer John Battelle. This morning, from Australia, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer […]
Microsoft To Take Another Run At Yahoo In 2009?
If absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett were still alive, he might be tempted to write a drama about the Microsoft and Yahoo non-merger that seems to keep generating news and speculation. Better yet, maybe living playwright David Mamet will take a crack at some point. The latest justification for writing yet another post about whether or […]
Microsoft Preparing “Another Run” At Yahoo As Justice Dept. Begins Formal Investigation Of Google-Yahoo Search Deal
Yesterday, after Microsoft announced it was buying semantic (or “natural language”) search engine Powerset, reporters asked the question: was this deal motivated by Redmond’s failed run at Yahoo? The two deals are and aren’t related. If the Yahoo acquisition had happened Powerset might not have, but Microsoft didn’t buy Powerset because it failed to buy […]
Today’s MicroHoo Roundup: Google Considers Its Response, Google Says It Would “Hire” Yang, Icahn Might Be Thwarted By Slimmed-Down MicroHoo, & MSN Reorgs
Yesterday at Google HQ in Mountain View, during the Q&A session following the discussion of Google Health, a reporter sneaked in a question about Microsoft-Yahoo. Marissa Mayer declined to answer the question, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Brin and Page were mulling their collective response to the new and reduced Microsoft overture (pun […]
MicroHoo Act III: Microsoft Looks For A Piece Of Yahoo, Yahoo Offers A Bland Response, Facebook Wants Its Independence
Yahoo responded late last night to Microsoft’s statement that it had proposed a new deal but something less than a full acquisition. The Yahoo response was boilerplate and bland and betrayed nothing about Yahoo’s potential receptiveness to a scaled-back deal. The speculation and rumor is that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo’s search business and/or that […]
Microsoft And Yahoo Apparently Back At The Bargaining Table
What would Sunday afternoon/evening be lately without more intrigue in the MicroHoo drama? Today was no exception as Redmond issued a cryptic statement that says it’s offering to join forces with or acquire some of Yahoo — potentially the search business — in a deal short of the total acquisition previously contemplated.
Microsoft & Facebook Do Mating Dance As Microsoft Seeks Alternatives To Yahoo; Google Now Uncertain On Yahoo?
At one point or another, most of the big online media companies have talked about buying Facebook. Yahoo is rumored to have made an early offer of almost $1 billion for the company, which was (obviously) turned down. But as the MicroHoo discussions appeared to be deteriorating, Microsoft apparently made some formal inquiries about Facebook’s […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 5, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web
Yahoo Next Steps: Google Deal, AOL Purchase, & Pleasing Investors
The question of the day seems to be how low will Yahoo go when the US stock market opens later today. Even I, optimistic about Yahoo’s chances on its own, don’t expect it to rise. But maybe the latest blog spin from Yahoo, along with formal news of a deal with Google, will help slow […]
Abandoning The Yahoo Deal: Microsoft’s $5 Billion Mistake?
If Microsoft’s walkaway from the Yahoo deal is indeed a ploy to save $5 billion, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have proven himself pennywise and pound foolish. He was prepared to spend billions to finally make Microsoft a serious rival to Google. For a bit more, he may have destroyed Microsoft’s chance to get there. Despite what I’m about […]
Microsoft Yanks Its Offer For Yahoo
Microsoft has decided to withdraw its offer for Yahoo and not pursue a hostile takeover bid, according to a letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, just released: “Clearly a deal is not to be.” This marks an amazing turn in the MicroHoo drama. When the acquisition bid was first announced in February, it was discussed […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 1, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web
Microsoft Willing To Raise Bid, But How Much Is Enough?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft’s directors are collectively willing to authorize the company to raise its bid for Yahoo to up to $33 per share but perhaps not to the levels that Yahoo has signaled it wants to be acquired. If such a sweetened bid did occur it would put further pressure […]
Court Documents: Microsoft Allocates $1.5 Billion For Yahoo Employee Retention
Court documents cited by the Wall Street Journal (also CNET) show that Microsoft has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees in the event of a successful takeover. This is apparently not tied to the generous “poison pill” severance packages that Yahoo put in place in the event of a Microsoft acquisition. The statement […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 28, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web
Monday MicroHoo Silence, Google Confident About Regulators In Deal With Yahoo
It’s Monday morning and there are no official statements from either Microsoft or Yahoo on the passage of the Microsoft-imposed three week deadline to respond to its takeover offer. (The deadline passed on Saturday.) The Wall Street Journal has a quick assessment of where things stand. Silicon Alley Insider also posts (picking up on an […]
Stay Tuned: Will Microsoft Sweeten The Deal?
The NY Post is reporting that despite public statements from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and CFO Chris Liddell, the offer on the table is final and that though Microsoft might “walk away” from Yahoo, there may in fact be a new and improved offer to Jerry Yang and his fellow Yahoo board members through “back […]
MicroHoo: Let The Proxy Fight Begin!
The Seattle PI is suggesting that the fight for control of Yahoo’s board, which Microsoft had previously threatened, may begin in earnest this weekend. Conversations with institutional shareholders have already been taking place. The three week deadline set by Steve Ballmer for Yahoo to come to the table will expire this weekend; hence the Seattle […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 21, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 7, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Report: Microsoft “Re-evaluating” Yahoo Bid
Reuters is reporting that Microsoft may be reconsidering its bid for Yahoo in light of changed market conditions and signs of potential weakness in Yahoo’s “core business.” The article cites as sources the familiar unnamed “people familiar with the matter.” There are few details and nobody from either company comments.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 1, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Report: Microsoft To Up Bid For Yahoo To $34 Per Share
Silicon Alley Insider reacts to Wall Street Analyst Mark Mahaney’s note that he anticipates Microsoft will raise its bid for Yahoo from $31 to $34 dollars per share. Barring an 11th hour alternative for Yahoo, this should move toward Yahoo’s public position that the original Microsoft bid undervalued the company. It also should please Yahoo’s […]
Is Yahoo Hoping For Justice Department Intervention To Stop MicroHoo Merger?
If you’re getting tired of the relentless back and forth about whether Yahoo has any more options to avoid a Microsoft takeover, so are we. And I would imagine so are Yahoo and Microsoft employees. With News Corp. publicly saying it won’t bid against Microsoft and AOL seemingly fading as a merger/partner prospect for Yahoo, […]
Yahoo Expects To Double Cash Flow In Three Years & Reaffirms 2008 Outlook
Yahoo announced at an investor presentation that they expect to double their operating cash flow in three years from $1.9 billion to $3.7 billion. Yahoo also took the opportunity to reaffirm their 2008 financial outlook. Yahoo said by 2010, they expect to earn $8.8 billion in revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs). This presentation is to […]
February 2008: Search Engine Land’s Most Popular Stories
Below are Search Engine Land’s 10 most popular stories from Februrary 2008:
Microsoft’s Johnson: “Once Yahoo And Microsoft Agree On A Transaction”
This afternoon, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft Platforms & Services Division, issued an email to Microsoft employees (that was released via its PR firm). The letter has a tone of confidence that assumes a deal with Yahoo will ultimately take place. It reiterates what Microsoft believes to be the benefits of that deal and looks […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 22, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Brin “Unnerved,” Yang “Girds,” And Microsoft Shops For A New Yahoo Board
Previewing the teams involved in the Google-sponsored Lunar X prize, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told the Associated Press following the event that he found the prospect of Microsoft owning Yahoo “unnerving.” Meanwhile, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, according to Charles Cooper at CNET, is “girding for the certainty of a coming proxy war with Microsoft.”
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 20, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Gates On Yahoo Acquisition: It’s The Engineers We Want
CNET reports on Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates’ speech at Stanford University yesterday in which he said that it wasn’t the advertisers, the brand, or the traffic so much as the engineers that Microsoft wanted in the Yahoo acquisition. Of course, others in the company, including perhaps CEO Steve Ballmer, would say that the brand, advertiser […]
Microsoft Signals Long Term Commitment To Search Even Without Yahoo
Bill Gates told Reuters that, with or without Yahoo, the company would be investing heavily in Web search over the long term to compete with Google. Whether genuine or a negotiating position, Gates’ remarks also suggest that there won’t be any significant adjustments in the bid amount, currently valued at just over $41 billion and […]
Third Annual Yahoo Searchlight Awards Happen Against Surreal Backdrop
As Yahoo was apparently laying off its promised 1,000 workers today, I was at the Time-Life Building in New York as a panelist for the third Yahoo Searchlight Awards. I’ve had the honor to be a part of this event since its inception in 2005 and think it’s a terrific opportunity for ad agencies to […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 11, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
Microhoo: Divining The Probabilities
Yahoo’s board has officially rejected Microsoft’s bid for the company, but that’s likely just a gambit to either pressure Microsoft to sweeten its bid or stall for time while Yahoo explores other alternatives. What’s the likelihood of Microsoft actually succeeding in its takeover attempt? There are many possible scenarios. Will Microsoft have to increase its […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 8, 2008
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
The Latest From Jerry: Stay Focused, Yahoos!
Yet another employee letter to Yahoos from CEO Jerry Yang has now become public, thanks to Yahoo being required to file these things with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. It makes you wonder why Yahoo (and Microsoft) don’t just publicly blog these letters to their workers, since they come out anyway