Report: Google unworried about Yahoo ad deal's antitrust issue
,----[ Quote ]
| Google thinks antitrust regulators would approve an advertising partnership
| with Yahoo because the deal isn't exclusive and isn't a merger, Reuters
| reported Friday.
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http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9929502-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
No word from Yahoo, so proxy war seems likely.
Microsoft-Yahoo: Deal or No Deal?
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| Three weeks ago, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer threatened to launch a
| hostile takeover if Yahoo Inc. 's board did not accept its US$44.6 billion
| takeover bid.
|
| Now, however, Microsoft seems to have backed away from its tough talking and
| said it's prepared to withdraw its offer to buy Yahoo if there is no progress
| by this weekend. "As we said recently to the board, unless there's progress
| by this weekend, we will reconsider our alternatives," said Chris Liddell,
| Microsoft's chief financial officer, in a conference call yesterday to
| discuss the company's financial results.
|
| Yahoo did not respond to a request for comment about the deadline, but the
| company has said it would consider Microsoft's offer if the software giant
| upped the ante, which is is unlikely to happen. Microsoft declined to comment
| for this story.
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http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,145152-pg,1/article.html
Microsoft employees lose faith in crazed Ballmer.
Is the Sleeping Giant Finally Waking Up, or Just Rolling Over?
,----[ Quote ]
| Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, Ballmer seems to be preoccupied with
| GOOG while MSFT melts down - or at least while the first embers, which had
| already been apparent for years, now threaten to turn into something much
| more serious. Hence the recent ill-advised and fiscally irresponsible YHOO
| bid.
`----
http://msftextrememakeover.blogspot.com/2008/04/is-sleeping-giant-finally-waking-up-or.html
Microsoft FY08Q3 Results
,----[ Quote ]
| [Microsoft employee:] Mr. Ballmer engaged in some good bluster Wednesday,
| saying that Microsoft could just walk away from the deal. Please, please,
| walk on by. I haven't talked to every employee at Microsoft, of course, but
| everyone that I've talked to believes this is a bad idea. And that's not hand
| wringing.
`----
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/04/microsoft-fy08q3-results.html
As you can see, Microsoft employees are worries about their careers.
Yesterday:
Does Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer need an intervention?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may need an intervention before this obsession
| with Yahoo–which is really about an obsession over Google–spins out of
| control.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8597
Is Microsoft's Ballmer a bad dealmaker?
,----[ Quote ]
| The bid for Yahoo that helped sink the market value of Microsoft (MSFT) by
| more than $20 billion in one day in early February is one of the latest in a
| string of acquisitions and major investment stakes Microsoft has initiated
| since CEO Steve Ballmer took over in 2000 that have been punished by the
| stock market as misjudgments.
|
| "Some learn more quickly than others. It doesn't look like Mr. Ballmer is
| learning that quickly," says UCLA Anderson School of Management professor
| Richard Roll, lead author of a study that analyzed 11 years of merger and
| acquisition announcements by 2,589 CEOs at 1,740 U.S. companies.
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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2008-04-23-ballmer_N.htm
Microsoft Profit Drops; Forecast May Miss Estimates
,----[ Quote ]
| The world's biggest software maker said sales of Windows for PCs sank 24
| percent and revenue from its online advertising unit came in at the low end
| of its projections. Microsoft's report contrasted with positive comments from
| chipmaker Intel Corp. and computer company International Business Machines
| Corp.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft declined $1.60 to $30.20 in extended trading after closing at
| $31.80 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has
| fallen 11 percent this year.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQ7_iN1SxJ.c&refer=worldwide
Recent:
UCLA Professor: Microsoft CEO Ballmer a ‘hubris-infected serial acquirer’ with
dismal track record
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/16916/
Bear Stearns's Advice To Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Co-founder Bill Gates can't be thrilled with watching
| Ballmer drain the company's cash. He didn't get so rich by buying at the top
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| of the market.
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http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/03/17/microsoft-bear-stearns-tech-ebiz-cx_ec_0316msft.html
Microsoft says to borrow money for Yahoo deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp said on Monday it may borrow money for the first time in its
| history to fund a portion of its $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo
| Inc.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0455692920080205
Microsoft's DreamSpark – What a Giveaway
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| The rest of the $44.6bn (£22.3bn) deal would be financed with an undisclosed
| amount of credit.
|
| What that means is that it must squeeze as much money as it can from its
| operations to fund that debt and still pay dividends to shareholders, who
| will be looking for some payback from the Yahoo takeover. Giving away
| software is the last thing it would want to do in these circumstances, and
| the DreamSpark announcement shows just how worried it is about the future.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/microsofts-dreamspark-%E2%80%93-what-giveaway
Will Deal-Making Chiefs Ever Learn? Maybe.
,----[ Quote ]
| Mr. Ballmer was considered a “hubris-infected” chief under the study’s
| definition, because of Microsoft’s value-destroying deal to invest $100
| million in Vertical Net in 2000. He followed up with deals for Intertainer
| and BroadBand Office, which were also followed by below-market returns for
| shareholders.
|
| In all, Mr. Ballmer made 15 deals between 2000 and 2002, with an average
| market-adjusted shareholder return of negative 4.59 percent.
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http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/will-deal-making-chiefs-ever-learn-maybe/index.html
Mergers of Corporate Giants Not Likely to Benefit Consumers
,----[ Quote ]
| “There is little if any evidence that increased corporate size in
| already-large national and international firms produces greater technological
| innovation,” writes Elizabeth Sanders, Professor of Government at Cornell
| University. “To the contrary, it probably leads to less, given lower
| competitive pressures, and the starving of research in debt-burdened
| companies.”
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http://mslawnews.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/corporate_mergers/
|
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