Tag: MERGER

It seems, if unnamed insider sources and some speculation from TechCrunch are to be believed, that Google has just bought Groupon, the deal-of-the-day website, for $2.5 billion. Yahoo tried, and failed, to buy Groupon for over $3 billion earlier this year, but little is known about why the deal fell apart. That Google has now apparently bought them for 'only' $2.5 billion would suggest that ...

If you thought things were over between Microsoft and Yahoo!, you ain't seen nothing yet. Because now it's really, officially, super duper over. Yahoo! issued a press releases this afternoon making it clear that that not only will Microsoft not be purchasing all of Yahoo!, but Yahoo! won't be selling Microsoft even a part of its business. Not its search engine; not its email service; not even ...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water (or at least use Flickr without fear that Microsoft would start requiring WGA validation), Microsoft released a statement saying it's not quite done with this whole Yahoo! thing yet. No, the company isn't putting another bid on the table for an outright acquisition of Yahoo!, but Microsoft isn't ruling that out either. In a nutshell, ...

Condé Nast Publications (which owns Wired, Wired.com, and a whole bunch of major magazines) has agreed to purchase Ars Technica for an undisclosed sum. According to TechCrunch, Ars will be placed under the Wired Digital umbrella under CondéNet, which was made whole with the 2006 acquisition of Wired.com, and may be combined with Wired and Wired.com. The sale will be announced some ...

With all the talk of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! leading nowhere, there's one important thing to keep in mind: Yahoo! never said it was looking for a buyer. Microsoft's takeover offer never quite got "hostile," but it was unsolicted nonetheless. So now that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has decided to take his ball and go home, we probably shouldn't be surprised that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang released ...

OK, this is just getting silly. At this point, Microsoft has made its offer to purchase Yahoo!, been rejected, set a date in the sand, after which Microsoft would try to oust Yahoo!'s board of directors, and then let that date come and go without taking any action. And after all the tough talk, now it looks like Microsoft is finally starting to consider raising its asking price. The problem is ...

Yahoo! seems to have come up with the ultimate response to Microsoft's heavy-handed attempts to purchase the internet portal. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo! is in talks with Download Squad's parent company AOL over plans to merge the two companies' internet operations. If the deal goes through, the two companies would combine their web and internet based services. AOL's old school ...

Oh, Microsoft, Yahoo!, when are you going to stop fighting and realize that you're in love with each other? Yahoo!'s board of directors has responded to a letter from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer demanding action within 3 weeks. In a nutshell, Ballmer told Yahoo! that if the company didn't accept Microsoft's buyout offer, Microsoft would lower its bid and try to replace the Yahoo! Board. So what ...

OK, we know it's a long shot, but wouldn't it be great if Microsoft succeeded in its bid to buy Yahoo! and then renamed the company Microhoo? Because when you type "Microhoo" into Yahoo!'s search engine right now, one of the suggestions is "Microhoods." And given Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's recent letter to the Yahoo! Board, that seems like as accurate a description as any. Essentially, ...

As expected, Yahoo! has rejected Microsoft's bid to take over the web portal and its network of services. Microsoft had been offering $44.6 billion for Yahoo!, which the Yahoo! board claims undervalues the company. Microsoft has a few options available. The company could raise its bid price, or it could try to circumvent the board's decision by taking the offer directly to the shareholders. ...

Techcrunch is reporting this morning that real estate sales company Time Lending California has acquired social networking site BOOMj.com. Time Lending admits that it deals in "direct marketing" and BOOMj.com is a site aimed at the Baby Boomer (and older) generation. Let's connect the dots, shall we? Since it's not likely that social networking is part of Time Lending's business model, what other ...

The internet is starting to look like a Highlander movie. In the end, there can be only one company. And that company will have untold power over all the web. Today's big news is that Microsoft and Google are reportedly in a bidding war for a minority stake in Facebook. Sure, neither is planning on buying the site outright, but the move could help Microsoft bolster its online business or help ...

There's been persistent rumours for as long as we can remember about Facebook being the object of Yahoo!'s desire, with founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly turning down offers in the region of $2 BILLION. Yes, two billion dollars. However Microsoft, apparently keen to make inroads with their some-what floundering Windows Live initiatives, is rumoured to be wanting Facebook, and badly. So badly ...

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp picked up MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. Now the company is trying to offer MySpace, and possibly some other properties like IGN, to Yahoo! in exchange for a quarter stake in the portal. After the merger, that 25% stake could be worth more than $12 billion. It's not clear whether the recent leadership change at Yahoo! will help or hurt the deal in any way. Yahoo! is ...

Looks like the rumors were true. Auction site eBay is shelling out $75 million to buy social web discovery service StumbleUpon. According to the press release, the acquisition gives eBay exposure to StumbleUpon's growing community of over 2 million users. Still seems like an awkward match to us. In recent years, eBay purchased PayPal, but that was a no-brainer, and Skype, which has an obvious ...