Execs scoff at story of Microsoft dropping $20B on search biz
All Things Digital Nov 30, 08 8:03 PM CST
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A report that Microsoft will buy Yahoo's search business and give two Internet execs a 30% share is "total fiction," one of the execs tells Kara Swisher at AllThingsDigital. Swisher agrees that the $20 billion deal, reported by the London Times , is likely non-existent. After all, board member Carl Icahn would know about it—and his recent purchase of nearly seven million Yahoo shares "would smack of insider trading" if the purchase went through.
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Microsoft 'done' with acquisition attempts, even after Yang's resignation
CNET Nov 19, 08 12:42 PM CST
(Newser)
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Steve Ballmer quashed the rumor that Microsoft would make another offer to buy Yahoo now that Jerry Yang has quit as CEO, CNET reports. “We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo,” the chief executive said today. “We did our best; we’ve moved on.”
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The next Yahoo CEO will have to take the Web portal in a new direction to sate Wall Street
Wall Street Journal Nov 19, 08 9:52 AM CST
(Newser)
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Yahoo’s successor to CEO Jerry Yang could come from outside the Internet industry, as long as he has a strong operations background and the decisiveness to break the company’s culture of indecision, reports the Wall Street Journal . But even before hiring a CEO, the company needs to decide whether it wants to remain independent or go with a partner, reports the New York Times .
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ANALYSIS
Analysts see 'beginning of the end for Yahoo' as CEO steps down
BusinessWeek Nov 18, 08 9:54 AM CST
(Newser)
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Investors are hoping Jerry Yang’s departure will lead to renewed talks with Microsoft, BusinessWeek reports. “This is probably the beginning of the end for Yahoo,” said one. “Microsoft will probably come back with an offer.” Microsoft has repeatedly denied interest in reviving a deal, but Yang’s departure “clears the path,” one analyst said. “Yahoo can free up its strategic alternatives.”
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Top CEOs have taken a 28% hit in the value of their company holdings
Wall Street Journal Oct 23, 08 8:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Next time you check the value of your portfolio, know that America's top executives are taking a pounding with you: Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett has seen his holdings in his company decline $9.6 billion this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. And he’s got company. Oracle’s Larry Ellison is out $6.6 billion; Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, $4.8 billion; and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, $4.2 billion.
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Ballmer says company can be more flexible now in Google fight
Wall Street Journal Jul 24, 08 4:21 PM CDT
(Newser)
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CEO Steve Ballmer is spinning Microsoft’s failure to acquire Yahoo expertly, telling analysts today that, unburdened by the search giant, the company can be more frisky and adaptable in its fight with nemesis Google, the Wall Street Journal reports. Actions might speak louder than words, though: Microsoft announced yesterday it would give the leader of its online efforts the boot, and restructure.
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Opinion
Microsoft off the hook as Congress goes
after its archrival
Seattle Times Jul 14, 08 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser)
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You have to forgive Microsoft if it indulges in some schadenfreude today, writes Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times. Archrival Google is facing a peril that’s all too familiar in Redmond. Steve Ballmer can sit back tomorrow as Google’s top execs go before the Senate subcommittee on antitrust, secure in the knowledge that he helped put them there.
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Board must be replaced, Ballmer says
Wall Street Journal Jul 7, 08 10:04 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Carl Icahn says Microsoft is still in the hunt to acquire Yahoo, but only if the board is replaced, the Wall Street Journal reports. Icahn says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “made it abundantly clear” to him that he wouldn’t talk with Yahoo’s current board, which he fears will run the company into the ground before antitrust authorities agree to a merger.
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Microsoft CEO salutes founder, leaving after 33 years, for 'enormous opportunity'
Seattle Times Jun 27, 08 4:18 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Microsoft celebrated Bill Gates’ last day as a full-time employee today, the Seattle Times reports. More than 800 employees, family members and friends shared memories at the company’s corporate conference center in Redmond, Wash. CEO Steve Ballmer bid a tearful farewell to his longtime friend: "We've been given a enormous opportunity, and Bill gave us that opportunity," he told the audience.
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Joint leadership with Ballmer slowed, hurt Microsoft's growth
Wall Street Journal Jun 5, 08 4:24 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Bill Gates’ departure from full-time employment at Microsoft on June 27 will end 8 contentious years in which Gates has attempted to stay onboard while nominally beneath his close friend and new CEO, Steve Ballmer. Though they built the company together, this “ambassadorial succession” produced mixed results, with Gates undermining Ballmer in front of executives, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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OPINION
Yahoo fallout just the first challenge for Ballmer, Microsoft
MarketWatch May 29, 08 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer are facing a scary, new post-Bill-Gates world, Therese Poletti writes on MarketWatch. On a panel at the All Things Digital conference earlier this week, Ballmer and Gates fielded questions about Microsoft’s failed Yahoo bid and unpopular Vista operating system. “Ballmer and indeed Microsoft face many challenges on the road ahead,” comments Poletti.
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Ballmer dodges attack by Hungarian during university lecture
Associated Press May 21, 08 9:51 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in Budapest this week to give a lecture to Hungarian university students, but the talk took an unexpected turn when he was pelted with eggs. Unlike Bill Gates, who was hit in the face with a cream pie a decade ago, Ballmer was able to dodge the attack. The protester shouted that Microsoft had stolen money from the Hungarian people, hurled three eggs, and was calmly escorted out.
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But execs don't like plan, which includes breaking up company
Wall Street Journal May 19, 08 9:09 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Microsoft's new offer to Yahoo includes breaking up the company and buying its search-advertising business, notions that have left Yahoo execs cold, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the plan, Yahoo would sell its Asian assets and let Microsoft buy a minority stake in what's left of the company.
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CEO, facing shareholder backlash, says Microsoft
'wouldn't negotiate'
New York Times May 6, 08 6:28 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Though Microsoft's courtship of Yahoo came to an unhappy end, Yahoo is still open to suitors, even Microsoft—at the right price, insists CEO Jerry Yang. Yahoo is in talks with other companies about ways to boost its value, and while Yahoo isn't in a rush to sell, executives are willing to listen to any would-be buyer, Yang tells Bloomberg as he faces mounting shareholder criticism for letting the deal get away.
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