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Posts Tagged “
Steve Ballmer
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online advertising
jerry yang
Yahoo can find its way, but only if it stops searching
Jerry Yang's spin campaign about why the Microsoft bid fell through is transparent. He's not trying to cajole Steve Ballmer back to the negotiating table; he's trying to cover his rear and appease indignant shareholders. The only reason he's so open about accepting a new bid from Microsoft, I think, is that he's not expecting another one to come. Ballmer has more or less said he thinks that Yahoo is worth less and less every day; last Saturday, when Yang flew up with cofounder David Filo to meet with Ballmer one last time, was as close as the two will ever get to agreeing on Yahoo's worth. The thing is, unless Yang makes some dramatic shifts, Ballmer may well be right. More »
1:40 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Owen Thomas
2,043 views,
7 comments
Latest by FungibleMind: @feeldumb "Google would have much more well targeted information from their search data than Yahoo! will ever have." Wrong. Yahoo! has as good or better data than Google in both depth (length of time) and breadth (services, media, platforms), more »
microsoft
Ballmer eyes Facebook, AOL and MySpace as alternatives
Sources familiar with Microsoft tell the WSJ they expect CEO Steve Ballmer to target another large Internet company for acquisition soon. Noting that few companies have the size to boost Microsoft's business, Ballmer himself listed Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace as properties that could help Microsoft control the Internet as it did the personal computer. Others want Ballmer to buy AOL for its massive and cheap inventory. (What, are they pulling for a Nsync reunion tour as well?) Microsoft could easily better Yahoo's $10 billion offer for AOL, says SAI's Henry Blodget. But there's a reason AOL is cheap, people. More »
nerdfight
Ballmer to Yang: How stupid are you?
Even when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tries to sound polite, he manages to be rude. His thank-you-very-much letter to Yahoo's Jerry Yang declining to make an offer for Yahoo is no exception. In particular, Ballmer rails against Yang for considering outsourcing search advertising to Google, saying it will cause Yahoo's engineers to flee and raise prices for advertisers. "By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table," Ballmer concludes. If I were Yang, I would read this and wonder why I ever even contemplated getting into business with this guy. The full letter: More »
Ballmer, sighted in Palo Alto, was there for Yahoo meeting
A Valleywag tipster spotted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and fellow executive Kevin Johnson in Palo Alto on Wednesday. Kara Swisher now confirms they were in California for a meeting with Yahoo. [BoomTown]
A Valleywag tipster spotted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and fellow executive Kevin Johnson in Palo Alto on Wednesday. Kara Swisher now confirms they were in California for a meeting with Yahoo. [BoomTown]
exits
Is Ballmer on his way out -- and if so, who's the next CEO?
Emails are flying out of Redmond with this speculation: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's botched $50 billion bid for Yahoo could mean the end of his career. While Microsoft's board reportedly gave the CEO considerable leeway in handling the deal, his dithering approach and his failure to sell the deal both to Yahoo's board and Microsoft's own executives don't reflect well on the sweaty screamer. The only problem: Microsoft has no obvious successor for Ballmer. More »
Yahoo's $37 demand talks, Microsoft's $33 offer walks
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer heeded our advice and walked away from a bid for Yahoo. Did he dodge a potentially career-ending bullet? "The talks broke down this afternoon after a face to face meeting in the Seattle area that included Microsoft CEO Steve ballmer, Microsoft exec. kevin johnson, and Yahoo co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo." [All Things Digital] (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)
acquisitions
Yahoo prepares to give Google 80 percent of the search ad market
As soon as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes his next move, Yahoo could announce a plan to serve Google ads against Yahoo search results, the Wall Street Journal reports. Yahoo and Google tested such an arrangement in April and it went well enough that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang believes a longer term deal will appease shareholders enough to keep Yahoo independent.More »
acquisitions
Microsoft's rank-and-file employees don't want to merge the company with Yahoo. During today's companywide town hall meeting, one of them asked CEO Steve Ballmer to explain the attraction. The helpful transcriptionists at Silicon Alley Insider typed up Ballmer's answer. We've reduced it to an SMS-friendly version, below. More »
Ballmer pitches Yahoo to Microsoft employees
Microsoft's rank-and-file employees don't want to merge the company with Yahoo. During today's companywide town hall meeting, one of them asked CEO Steve Ballmer to explain the attraction. The helpful transcriptionists at Silicon Alley Insider typed up Ballmer's answer. We've reduced it to an SMS-friendly version, below. More »
acquisitions
Report: Microsoft to announce Yahoo decision at 1 p.m. Pacific
Steve Ballmer will announce his next move on the Yahoo bid at 1 p.m. today, Kara Swisher reports. At this morning's "town hall" meeting, he still sounded undecided; Swisher thinks walking away is the most likely outcome. [BoomTown]
microsoft
Make the wrong choice on Yahoo, and Ballmer could lose his job
Microsoft's board yesterday gave CEO Steve Ballmer "broad discretion" to decide on his own whether Microsoft should raise its offer for Yahoo, initiate a proxy fight for the company or walk away, the Wall Street Journal reports. That means if Ballmer makes the wrong call, it could cost him his job. Ballmer took over day-to-day operations from Bill Gates in 2000 and lately, things haven't gone well for the company. Vista is broken and the latest rumor is that a new operating system, Windows Seven, won't come out until 2010. And, despite Microsoft's push into online advertising, including a $6 billion buy of aQuantive, Ballmer's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo is an admission that Microsoft's strategy has failed. Microsoft still only commands a mere 9.4 percent of the search engine market. We think he should walk away, but doing nothing carries its own risks. If Ballmer blows it on Yahoo, would anyone blame Gates for wanting to leave the company in better hands before he retires this summer?
nerdspotting
Steve Ballmer seen in Palo Alto today, near Facebook's offices
A tipster writes:Was parked on University Ave right east of University Cafe near Waverly, on a conference call dealing with business for my own startup company. And lo and behold, Steve Ballmer, Kevin Johnson and some other woman walked out of the building on the corner (right @ 3pm). They walked along University Ave toward El Camino Real. I worked at MSFT for 3 years before leaving to do my start up so I know it was certainly then. Lots of silence on the Yahoo deal, and perhaps they were on Facebook business unrelated... but who knows.Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, was rumored to be meeting with Yahoo executives in Oregon. No need to go so far! He was just a few stops down 101 from Yahoo's Sunnyvale headquarters. But our tipster may be right about Ballmer being here on Facebook business. Kevin Johnson, one of Ballmer's companions, was president of Microsoft's Windows division and an architect of its Facebook investment. Facebook investor Accel Partners is located on University near Waverly; from there, the Microsoft team walked in the direction of Facebook's offices. Anyone know what they were up to? Drop us a line.
acquisitions
Ballmer to raise Microsoft's offer for Yahoo
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is willing to offer $33 a share for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports. Major Yahoo shareholders however, want $35 a share. The Yahoo board is said to be holding out for an offer in the high $30s. Meanwhile, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang continues to negotiate an alternative deal with Time Warner that would merge AOL and Yahoo and give Time Warner 20 percent control over the new company.
layoffs
Steve Ballmer to hold town hall at Microsoft tomorrow
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has scheduled a "town hall" meeting for Microsoft employees tomorrow at 9 a.m. The subject of Yahoo will probably come up, but why would Microsoft employees beyond executives care? More »
great moments in journalism
Reports: Ballmer is really going to do something today
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to do something today — or sometime soon after — about Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal and its News Corp. cousin BoomTown report. Neither publications knows what. The Journal, reporting that "Microsoft's Next Move on Yahoo is Imminent" says that Ballmer has a slate of 10 directors and 3 alternates lined up to replace Yahoo's board. The Journal also reports that Ballmer's options include — but are not limited too — walking away from the deal, filing for a proxy fight or announcing the slate. BoomTown's Kara Swisher confirms that something should happen today or in the future. "What exactly that move will be is still unclear," Swisher writes. "But sources said it could come sometime after the stock market opens tomorrow."
acquisitions
Why Ballmer should walk away from Yahoo
Steve Ballmer must be itching for a fight. The culture he built at Microsoft prizes confrontation, and taking its bid for Yahoo directly to shareholders would fit his style. And he has hinted that, absent a response from Yahoo's board, he'd launch a proxy fight. But he'd be better off just walking away. Or seeming to. That's the technique Oracle CEO Larry Ellison used on BEA. He walked away when the smaller software company refused his advances. After leaving BEA to twist in the stock market's wind for a while, he returned and found it more pliant. Jerry Yang has frustrated Ballmer by playing hard to get. The move Ballmer might find unsatisfying, but most effective, would be to return the favor for a while.
valley spawn
Quick, Ballmer, make your offer while Yang's busy caring for his newborn daughter
Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Yang's wife, Akiko Yamazaki, gave birth to the couple's second daughter this week. BoomTown's Kara Swisher reported the news, citing sources close to the company, and then warned Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to "give Yang a break and back off, at least for today." For Yamazaki's sake, we hope Ballmer ignores this advice and takes an upped offer to Yahoo shareholders today, while Yang's too busy in the maternity ward to fend it off. Without a job, Jerry will have no excuse to ignore the 4 a.m. wailing.
acquisitions
Microsoft employee on merger: "No one wants it"
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer could begin a proxy fight for control over Yahoo's board toward the end of this week. Microsoft's rank and file do not want him to, according to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley. None would go on record with an opinion contrary to Ballmer, but one anonymous source told Foley:No one wants it to happen. The only reason it's being considered is that the management of Windows Live has been so ineffective that they can't ship anything worth using. They are consistently behind what consumers want, and unlike the old Microsoft, they are so poorly managed that they can't even copy everyone else.Another source told Foley the Yahoo merger would bring nothing but regulatory strife: More »
