Apple among those considering rival bid for Yahoo?

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 88
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bloodstains View Post


    Thats an awfully biting comment to make without anything to back it up. Would you like me to explain it to you more slowly?



    It's a total waste of your time- trust me.

    He still doesn't understand how streaming DVD video from a laptop to an ATV would be a good thing.
  • Reply 42 of 88
    The answer to this question lies in the 30th anniversary of Apple.

    Everybody thought Apple would celebrate it with a special kind of product (limited version)



    But Steve surprised everybody by stating : "Apple is a company of the future.'

    No special stuff was launched.



    Apple will use its cash to buy companies with future technology as they did with FingerWorks.



    Yahoo is an old woman with no vision and future direction.

    But so is Microsoft.

    It's no surprise that this comes only a month after the boss with a vision (even if I am an Apple fan) left the company.



    The next few years are gonne be (again) very exciting and give room for new start ups and new technology.

    Because these old companies try to hold on what they have and try to stick together...
  • Reply 43 of 88
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    How much cash does MSFT have?



    I believe I read that it is something on the order of $48 billion so the Yahoo! purchase would bring them to a minimum cushion of $3 billion.



    Apple, by contrast, has somewhere around $16 billion in cash. (Adobe's market cap is about $20 billion today).
  • Reply 44 of 88
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Eyeballs aren't the product because they aren't providing them in any way. Eyeballs would be the customers in your example.



    But the customers in their subscriber base really is the main asset here, as well as the advertising network. If Yahoo had no subscriber base then there would be little point in buying them.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Google developing Android put them in direct competition with Apple. Business is Business..Apple will partner with Google where it sees fit and compete where they must.



    The competition is mostly tangential, not direct.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by e1618978 View Post


    I bet that Apple has a Photoshop competitor ready for market just in case of something like a Microsoft buyout of Adobe.



    There is a huge ecosystem for Photoshop, and I don't think replacing photoshop is enough, because there's enough need for the related products too.
  • Reply 45 of 88
    The only reasons that I could see Apple ever considering buying Yahoo! is for the vast servers that Yahoo! currently owns, the IM agent (to add yet more functionality), and the portals. Everything else is crap.



    One thing that has not been discussed is an Apple/Google joint buyout of Yahoo!. I am not sure if that can be legally done, but it does offer some incentives to both companies; wheras just one purchasing Yahoo! would have quite the mess on their hands.
  • Reply 46 of 88
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Then more of a reason to buy up Adobe and combine the two apps into the best CS ever written. The mere thought of Apple owning Flash, PS, and PDF makes me tingle. The could also take the good parts of Aperture, the good parts of Lightroom and combine them to make a "killer app".



    Is Adobe in some sort of financial trouble? Personally, Adobe has become a real large bug that needs to be squashed. Photoshop is great, but the other Apps? Dreamweaver is a real pain, Go Live is a pain, Acrobat is a pain, I don't know about Illustrator, even Flash has become quirky.



    Adobe's management and bungling (can anyone say Pointy-Haired Boss?) has caused the destruction of many stellar apps, and made them to the point where they are almost unusable.
  • Reply 47 of 88
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bluedalmatian View Post


    How much cash does MSFT have?



    Around $30B I believe. They were in the high 50's a few years ago but they've done a lot of acquisitions and paid a lot of dividends. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's around 30 now.



    Oh, and I don't see Apple having any capability to do an acquisition like Yahoo. The idea is preposterous. Even if they put up $15B in cash, say, they'd have to trade 1/4 of the company to Yahoo shareholders to put in a realistic bid. Not going to happen.



    Also, big mergers rarely succeed and are incredibly dangerous, because you're combining so many employees with different expectations and different traditions.
  • Reply 48 of 88
    Would AAPL want to get into a bidding war for YHOO with MSFT? Don't think so. If AAPL acquired YHOO, what value would such a purchase add? In my opinion, nothing!
  • Reply 49 of 88
    penchantedpenchanted Posts: 1,070member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drhamad View Post


    Around $30B I believe. They were in the high 50's a few years ago but they've done a lot of acquisitions and paid a lot of dividends. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's around 30 now.



    At 12/31/07, Microsoft had total current assets of 37.775B with cash and short-term investments of $21.076. Microsoft's current offer is half-cash, half-stock - from the press release:

    Quote:

    Microsoft?s proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock.



    Microsoft will likely need to borrow money to complete this transaction which is something that will be new to them in recent years.
  • Reply 50 of 88
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    The only reason for Apple to buy Yahoo would be to get around anti-trust, buy purchasing it for their best buddy Google.



    It would be a killoff. Waaaaaay to expensive. But it's a wet dream for killing microsoft
  • Reply 51 of 88
    penchantedpenchanted Posts: 1,070member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    But the customers in their subscriber base really is the main asset here, as well as the advertising network. If Yahoo had no subscriber base then there would be little point in buying them.



    Companies that sell advertising space are media companies: they own broadcast stations, billboards, websites or other places to place advertising. While advertising is the end-game, I think Microsoft's short-term goal is adding all the additional "billboards" that Yahoo currently owns - portal, mail, IM and Flickr, in particular.
  • Reply 52 of 88
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by quinney View Post


    Buying Yahoo would put AAPL in more direct competition with

    Google, currently a close ally. I can't see it happening.



    I was scrolling down the posts to see if someone would notice that.



    I'm surprised it took so long.



    That's correct. Why would Apple want to go directly into compitition with Google? I can't see that.



    Apple would also have to offer more than $45 billion to get into the bidding. If MS really wants this, they would likely go higher.



    Apple doesn't have that amount of cash, and so would have to go into debt, and or, offer stock.



    I don't see them as doing either.



    I remember last year, when Scientific Atlanta went on the block for about $7.5 billion. There were rumors there as well.
  • Reply 53 of 88
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by s.metcalf View Post


    No way Apple is interested in Yahoo. Yahoo is big into advertising and it's not part of Apple's ethic to enter into the realm of marketing/advertising anything except their own products. Microsoft has offered far above the share price for a dying company...let them waste $40 Billion on it.



    Yahoo has already been in talks with google to outsource their advertising division which from personal experience is lackluster and can generate larger profits for them under google. All Apple has to do is follow through on that.
  • Reply 54 of 88
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    Apple wouldn't compete with Google, it would only buy Yahoo, for their partner Google, and use it as such. The only way Apple would buy would be to do google a huge favor.
  • Reply 55 of 88
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    Google developing Android put them in direct competition with Apple. Business is Business..Apple will partner with Google where it sees fit and compete where they must.



    I'd say that Apple could stratify a Yahoo purchase more cleanly by breaking Yahoo into functional BU and then sell off what they don't need (Advertising etc)



    That's one product, and most analysts have said that it wouldn't compete with Apple's iPhone, in response to the very same comments you are using.



    But, Yahoo broarly competes with Google. At the very least, SHmitt would leave Apple's board, and would be considered to be a major competitor.



    how long would Google's Apple software initiatives last? Not very long.



    An interesting article in the NY Times today talked about this deal.



    It's considered that Yahoo is spent. Many of its engineers have left, or are leaving. Its Ad revenue is falling, along with MS's, while Google's is rising.



    Being bought by a larger company, even if it is Apple, would hasten that exodus.



    A bad deal all around.
  • Reply 56 of 88
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nebrie View Post


    Yahoo has already been in talks with google to outsource their advertising division which from personal experience is lackluster and can generate larger profits for them under google. All Apple has to do is follow through on that.



    To say Yahoo!'s advertising division is lackluster is quite an understatement. I think it's appallingly bad and confusing. Google's could easily use some improvement too, but at least I can use it. Yahoo! / Overture isn't even useable.
  • Reply 57 of 88
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drhamad View Post


    Around $30B I believe. They were in the high 50's a few years ago but they've done a lot of acquisitions and paid a lot of dividends. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's around 30 now.



    Oh, and I don't see Apple having any capability to do an acquisition like Yahoo. The idea is preposterous. Even if they put up $15B in cash, say, they'd have to trade 1/4 of the company to Yahoo shareholders to put in a realistic bid. Not going to happen.



    Also, big mergers rarely succeed and are incredibly dangerous, because you're combining so many employees with different expectations and different traditions.



    MS will have to borrow for the first time to do this.



    There is no way that Apple can afford this aquisition wiithout putting itself in heavy debt.



    Someone proposed that Apple buy a phone company. Now that is a real joke.



    http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/techn...gy&oref=slogin
  • Reply 58 of 88
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    They most certainly were opened. I've read some bizarre things on the internet but I never thought I'd read something so "back-asswards" as that without an attending " j/k" or some laughing emoticon. I sometimes forget that a rudimentary education isn't a prerequisite for using the internet.



    The eyeballs are the product, the advertisers are the customers - was always thus. How do you think it works?
  • Reply 59 of 88
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    Apple will most definitely not be bidding for Yahoo. Steve'll be rolling around the boardroom floor at that one.
  • Reply 60 of 88
    News Corp is not going to make a bid for Yahoo.



    Might want to edit your story for accuracy.



    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7227599.stm
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