Yahoo's Yang Years

Yahoo—back in the sights of Microsoft—is trying to keep its fate in its own hands, launching talks with potential partners, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Internet company reopened talks with Time Warner about a deal that would make AOL part of Yahoo and give Time Warner a minority interest in the new venture; Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is also in the mix. More »

Google’s agreement to provide Yahoo with advertising for some of its searches in the US and Canada has prompted the Justice Department to launch a formal antitrust investigation into the deal, the Washington Post reports. "They don't do it without having identified significant issues," one lawyer said of the action, which goes beyond the voluntary review the search giant expected. More »

Microsoft is back in pursuit of Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports, with the company in talks with both News Corp. and Time Warner as potential partners for a restructured deal to buy the search giant . Yahoo has been in Microsoft’s sights for nearly six months, but initial efforts to buy the entire company collapsed, and Microsoft has since been looking instead to acquire the search business and spin off the rest. More »

As it tries to fend off investor Carl Icahn's attempt to replace its board of directors, Yahoo today presented its version of buyout negotiations with Microsoft to shareholders, MarketWatch reports. Yahoo portrayed Microsoft as “unresponsive, inconsistent,” and loose on logistic details of the proposed merger. "The record casts doubt on whether Microsoft was ever committed to a whole company acquisition," its report said. More »

A sarcastic Yahoo employee slammed the company in an email sent to Fortune today, taking aim at futile executives and lousy decision-making. In the wake of Yahoo's latest shakeup, "things could not be better," the email says: True, past "reorgs" were sparked by pointless executive shifts, but eight execs really did quit this week to be "with their families," and "as for the Google deal, HOORRAY!" More »

Reeling after Microsoft’s failed takeover bid and bracing for a fight with financier Carl Icahn over board control, struggling Yahoo is once again restructuring itself, the New York Times reports. “Any organization change is disruptive,” said Yahoo’s president, but “the flip side of disruption is the opportunity for renewed growth.” But analysts say it’s all talk. “It changes nothing,” says one. More »

Yahoo yesterday launched an offensive against billionaire Carl Icahn’s attempt to displace the board, detailing in a letter to shareholders why accepting Microsoft’s alternative $8-billion search-only deal would have diminished Yahoo’s value and hurt the company strategically, reports MarketWatch. CEO Jerry Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock said the proposal, in which Microsoft would have invested $8 billion in Yahoo, would have tied Yahoo to Microsoft for 10 years. More »

Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon emerged from the dot-com bust as a mighty triumvirate, but only Amazon has kept its mojo in the decade's latter stages, the Economist reports. Yahoo, the oldest of the lot at 14, shooed away Microsoft, surrendered part of its business to Google, and failed to stay current. It survives, “but on the web’s equivalent of life support." More »

Regrouping in the aftermath of Microsoft’s takeover bid, Yahoo plans to consolidate its myriad branches, the Wall Street Journal reports. President Susan Decker aims to centralize the mail, search, and home-page teams to help boost earnings and justify its rejection of Microsoft’s $47.5 billion offer; some executives already have left amid the changes. More »

Yahoo’s stock has slipped 16.5%, the company might as well be wearing a sign that says “take me over,” and there’s a line of shareholders waiting to sue for what they say was a mishandled non-deal with suitor Microsoft, Fortune reports—not quite the scenario Jerry Yang likely envisioned when he took over as CEO a year ago yesterday. More »

Myspace is retooling itself to become a more direct competitor to web portals, specifically Yahoo, BusinessWeek reports. Starting Wednesday, the popular social networking site will unveil changes to its homepage such as news headlines, local weather apps, and entertainment links. More »

As Yahoo and Google prepare for a new search-ad deal, it’s all up to CEO Jerry Yang, writes Charles Cooper for CNET. Will Yang be the next Steve Jobs, pulling a struggling company back to the spotlight—or will he fade like his Yahoo predecessors? The afreement "may turn out to be a clever move if it fosters the two companies' respective strength in search and display advertising," Cooper writes. More »

Yahoo struck a deal today with Google to display its rival's search ads, just hours after announcing the end of talks with Microsoft on a possible merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. The deal with Google, which still faces months of federal scrutiny, could bring in $800 million a year for Yahoo and have a profound effect on Internet advertising. More »

Looks like a Microsoft-Yahoo marriage is off—for good this time, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a meeting last weekend, Microsoft representatives stated “unequivocally” that the software giant was not interested in purchasing all of Yahoo for any price. Yahoo then ruled out an alternative of selling Microsoft only its search business. More »

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn yesterday called Yahoo’s poison-pill severance plan, designed to deter hostile takeovers, “reprehensible,” the Wall Street Journal reports, but Yahoo said the measure would kick in if Icahn wins control of the board. "Now they found a way to entrench themselves forever," Icahn said, even as a shareholder group went to court to block the plan. More »

Investor Carl Icahn broadened his attacks on Yahoo today, targeting not only the recent failure of a Microsoft takeover deal but longtime performance issues, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Why did you permit Google to leave you in the dust?" he wrote to the board. More »

The chairman of Yahoo's board was quick to fire back at accusations leveled by Carl Icahn yesterday, reports the New York Times . An open letter from Roy Bostock to the corporate raider said Icahn's claim that Yahoo's board had sabotaged a Microhoo deal grossly distorted the board's position, and went on to trash Icahn's "puzzling" plans for Yahoo. More »

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wants Jerry Yang out of Yahoo's CEO seat, and has a pink slip waiting if his proxy action to take over the board is successful, reports the Wall Street Journal . Icahn yesterday unleashed a torrent of criticism of Yang’s role in the aborted Microsoft buyout deal—even as a January 2007 $40-a-share offer came to light this week—and says the software giant no longer trusts Yang. More »

Yahoo planned to pay all 14,000 workers to quit if Microsoft bought the company in a recent takeover bid, a lawsuit unsealed today claims. The shareholder complaint blasts execs for burying Microsoft's $1.5 billion offer to workers, and rejecting a $40-per-share offer last year. Yahoo tried to stop the unsealing, which revealed internal talks and private emails, Portfolio reports. More »

The Federal Trade Commission gave Carl Icahn approval to purchase additional chunks of Yahoo stock, part of the activist investor's plan to gain control of the company's board and perhaps force a sale, MarketWatch reports. Icahn already owns 59 million Yahoo shares and options and is reportedly seeking 93 million more (a $2.5 billion value). More »