Yahoo curbs severance pay in event of a takeover December 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentSAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could make it easier to negotiate a sale, Yahoo Inc. has overhauled a severance program that could have saddled potential buyers with a huge bill after a takeover.
The concessions disclosed Wednesday in a regulatory filing were made to settle a shareholder lawsuit alleging Yahoo conceived the severance plan in February to thwart an unsolicited buyout bid by Microsoft Corp.
The plan promised generous cash and stock benefits to virtually all of Yahoo’s nearly 14,000 employees if they were fired, took a pay cut or resigned after being involuntarily reassigned to another job within two years of a takeover.
The sweeping coverage would have cost Microsoft an additional $462 million to $2.1 billion had the software maker been able to buy Yahoo at its initial offer of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share, according to internal Yahoo documents turned over during the shareholder case in Delaware court.
Read The Rest—>Yahoo curbs severance pay in event of a takeover
Yahoo! Layoffs Draw More Blog Coverage than Most Ad Campaigns December 11, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentYesterday Yahoo began making good on its promise to lay off 1500 members of its staff — nearly 10% of the search brand’s workforce.
Affected departments include sales, marketing, content, administration, engineering, and acquisitions like Maven Networks and Right Media Exchange. According to Advertising Age, marketers from its category-development team were also shafted.
Those from the latter pile include ex-Mars and Unilever cog Brian Zeug, who operated consumer package-goods sales; former Starcom exec and Kmart CMO Steven Feuling, who headed retail; HP’s ex-interactive director Mary Bermel, who ran technology and telco marketing; and Justin Merickel, formerly of Compete and Euro RSCG, who operated finance sales.
Read The Rest—>YAHOO Layoffs Draw More Blog Coverage than Most Ad Campaigns
Former AOL CEO Rumored to Buy Yahoo: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer December 3, 2008 December 3, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentIf you are having trouble viewing our video player, check out MediaBytes on YouTube.
The WSJ is reporting that former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller maybe purchasing Yahoo for between $28-30 billion, roughly $22 a share. Yahoo’s stock benefited from the rumor, up 7% to $11.50. While the rumor mill is heating up, it should be noted that Miller is still under a non complete agreement with AOL, which prohibited him from joining Yahoo’s board over the summer.
Amazon may launch an HD streaming option for its Amazon Video on Demand service on TiVO. While the porthole is currently unavailable, it is expect that movies will play for two minutes while users are searching the library, giving them the option to purchase and download or store in an Amazon cloud. According to Bill Carr, Amazon’s VP for digital media, “Our goal is to create an immersive experience where people can’t help but get caught up in how exciting it is to simply watch a movie right from Amazon.com with a click of the button.”
NBC News is expected to name chief White House correspondent David Gregory the new anchor on Meet the Press. Gregory, who will replace Tim Russert, recently hosted MSNBC’s election night coverage and has been known to spare with White House officials on occasion. This sunday on Meet the Press, temporary anchor Tom Brokaw will interview President-elect Barack Obama.
Last night RIM announced that sales fell approximately 9% below its estimated projection. The BlackBerry manufacturer’s subscriber growth also fell 10% below its forecasted rate. The good news for RIM is that Verizon Wireless is still sold out of the new BlackBerry Storm, which, if back in stock, could be a major holiday player.
Plus, today’s consulting question, “Am I any closer to getting theatrical day-and-date released on VOD?” Shelly has the answer on today’s MediaBytes.
Learning to Work with Social Networks December 2, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentDECEMBER 2, 2008
A developing medium offers new targeting options.
While many marketers want to use social networks as part of their strategies, they still have no clear list of best practices for the medium. Getting friends to spread a marketing message to each other is a great goal, but how is that best done? A November article in Ad Age detailed efforts to use the connections between social network users. Paul Moore, director of insights at Yahoo!, found that targeting friends of a given sports fan led to more reach than targeting fans who did not know each other—even if the fan’s friends did not identify an interest in sports themselves. Read The Rest—>Learning to Work with Social Networks
Icahn Snaps Up More Yahoo December 2, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentRegulatory filings reveal that billionaire hedge-fund manager Carl Icahn bought nearly 7 million additional shares — about $67 million worth — of Yahoo.
The investor paid an average of $9.92 for each share over the course of three days, bringing his total stake to 75.6 million shares — almost 5.5% of the company, according to last week’s SEC filing, writes MarketingVOX.
Read The Rest—> Icahn Snaps Up More Yahoo
Britney more popular than Obama December 2, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentBarack Obama will make history by becoming the first black US president, but in the world of internet search he trails the singer, Britney Spears.
Of the billions of searches carried out on the portal, Yahoo.com, over the last year, Mr Obama was third behind Spears and World Wrestling Entertainment.
Mr Obama was, however, the most searched-for politician during 2008.
The subjects of the most sought-after news stories were hurricanes, Caylee and Casey Anthony, and election 2008.
“Every day, people turn to the web to learn more about the world around them,” said Yahoo’s Web Life editor, Heather Cabot.
Read The Rest—>Britney more popular than Obama
Microsoft's Ballmer `Done' With Talks to Buy Yahoo (Update2) November 19, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentBy Dina Bass and Crayton Harrison
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said all acquisition talks with Yahoo! Inc. are “done,” even after Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang announced plans to step down. Yahoo fell as much as 20 percent in Nasdaq trading.
“We thought we had something that made sense. Didn’t make sense to them. We’ve moved on,” Ballmer, 52, said today at a shareholder meeting in Bellevue, Washington. He reiterated that a partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo in the Internet-search market is an “an interesting possibility.” There are no talks about such an agreement, he said today.
Read The Rest—>Microsoft’s Ballmer `Done’ With Talks to Buy Yahoo (Update2)
Jerry Yang, Yahoo Chief, Steps Down November 19, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentSAN FRANCISCO — Jerry Yang, who, as chief executive of Yahoo, resisted a takeover bid from Microsoft only to later ask that merger talks resume, said he was stepping down.
In a memorandum sent to the company’s staff Monday evening, Mr. Yang, 40, said he would hold the post until the board names his successor, a process he said he would participate in. The Yahoo co-founder said he would then return to his previous job as “chief Yahoo,” a corporate strategy role, and would remain on the board.
In a memorandum typed in his style using no capital letters, he wrote, “i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.”
The announcement comes a year and a half after Mr. Yang assumed control of Yahoo from Terry Semel, a Hollywood studio boss that he handpicked for the job. Mr. Yang’s tenure has been marked by a precipitously declining stock price and the high profile collapse of a $44 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft last spring.
A Yahoo spokesman described the decision as “mutual” and “in progress for a while.”
Read The Rest—> Jerry Yang, Yahoo Chief, Steps Down
Yahoo Puts 'For Sale' Sign Back on Front Lawn – MarketingVOX November 7, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentIt was the plea heard ’round the world: “To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo.”
Jerry Yang — now openly referred to as “beleaguered” and “embattled” by the media — told a packed ballroom at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco that the company could still be bought — at the right price “whatever that price is,” the BBC reported.
The much-criticized CEO attempted to shed some light on the dramatic events of the summer.
Yahoo was ready to negotiate Microsoft’s $44.6 billion takeover bid, he said, but Microsoft “walked away” from the table and has since been clear about its disinterest in buying the entire company, he said. (They later offered to buy just the search portion, but were refused.)
Read The Rest—> Yahoo Puts ‘For Sale’ Sign Back on Front Lawn – MarketingVOX
Google pulls out of Yahoo advertising partnership – International Herald Tribune November 5, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentWASHINGTON: Google Inc. has scrapped its Internet advertising partnership with struggling rival Yahoo Inc., abandoning attempts to overcome the objections of antitrust regulators and customers who believed the alliance would give Google too much power over online commerce.
The retreat announced Wednesday represented another setback for Yahoo, which had been counting on the Google deal to boost its annual revenue by $800 million and placate shareholders still incensed by management’s decision to reject a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp. six months ago.
To Yahoo’s dismay, Google backed off to avoid a challenge from the U.S. Justice Department, which said it would sue to block the Yahoo deal to preserve competition in the Internet’s rapidly growing advertising market.
“The arrangement likely would have denied consumers the benefits of competition — lower prices, better service and greater innovation,” said Thomas Barnett, an assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
Without Google’s help, Yahoo now may feel more pressure to renew talks with Microsoft and ultimately sell itself for much less than the $33 per share that Microsoft offered in May. Yahoo shares traded Wednesday morning at just $13.87, gaining 4 percent in a move reflecting investor hopes that Microsoft might renew its pursuit.
Read The Rest —->Google pulls out of Yahoo advertising partnership – International Herald Tribune
