Microsoft Got Took?

This week’s chatter that Microsoft may have approached Facebook to discuss a possible takeover has created quite a buzz. But maybe Microsoft should be inquiring about getting a partial rebate on its $240 million investment instead.

Microsoft’s October purchase of a 1.6 percent Facebook stake implicitly valued the social-networking Web site at $15 billion. Even at the time, some people questioned such an eye-popping valuation. But as the months have passed, the number is looking even more bubbly. And not just to us: Several Web sites this week have questioned the value implied by Microsoft’s Facebook deal. On Friday, PEHub’s Dan Primack suggested it might be “one of the worst venture capital deals of all time.”

First, a big caveat: It’s hard to gauge how much Facebook is worth using traditional methods, because it is not a public company and gives out little in the way of performance data.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/did-microsoft-overpay-for-facebook/?ref=technology

Proves even more that Microsoft was just so excited about doing a deal in some from or another that they didn't even research this one enough. They're just going on a shopping spree for stakes in companies. El Stupido's

Microsoft and Facebook

Microsoft has been speaking with social networking giant Facebook about a possible acquisition, according to reports.

The Wall Street Journal cited a source close to Microsoft who claimed that members of its financial team had been in contact with Facebook to "gauge the company's willingness" to sell.

A Microsoft spokesperson told vnunet.com that the company would not be commenting on the report.

News of the talks comes just days after Microsoft called off its pursuit of Yahoo. The two companies had spent nearly three months in a very public saga that quickly turned from an acquisition offer to a hostile takeover threat.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2216137/microsoft-turns-facebook

Microsoft needs to calm down. They are starting to seem like a kid with birthday money that just wants something new in it's possession. I think they should let all the smoke from the Yahoo thing settle first, and then re-evaluate it's strategies.

Yahoo Suits Widen

Lawyers representing two public pension funds said late Monday they will broaden the scope of a consolidated class action lawsuit against Yahoo Inc. chief executive Jerry Yang and other members of the board to include "thwarting" the merger proposal by Microsoft Corp.

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Bouchard Margules & Friedlander, P.A. -- the court-appointed co-lead counsel for the proposed class of all shareholders in the suit against Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) -- said the suit is "to obtain redress for the Yahoo directors' breach of their fiduciary duties."

The case is pending in the Court of Chancery for the State of Delaware and plaintiffs are the Police & Fire Retirement System of the city of Detroit and the General Retirement System of the city of Detroit.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/05/05/daily27.html

Yahoo's going to need that $47.5 billion dollars to pay all of these plaintiffs

Microsoft is expected to announce Tuesday in Seoul, South Korea, that it will develop a version of its Microsoft Auto software for the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, the world’s fifth-largest automaker.

Microsoft already has a deal with the Ford Motor Company for its Sync system, which uses voice activation technology to operate cellphones and play digital music.

With both Ford and Hyundai as customers, Microsoft’s software could potentially be put into more than eight million vehicles worldwide each year. Its competitors include OnStar from General Motors, Johnson Controls and QNX Software Systems from Harman International.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/technology/06auto.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=business&adxnnlx=1210350528-79q6EX8G/qkD7koFafUntA&oref=slogin

Microsoft is slowly becoming the company of life. They're reaching into our homes, our pockets, our hands, our classrooms, and now our cars. Still far behind Apple yes, but at least their a competitor

Lawsuits Ahead for Yahoo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc likely faces a flood of shareholder lawsuits for rejecting a $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp, even if investors find holding the company responsible to be an uphill battle.

Microsoft pulled its sweetened $33-per-share offer on Saturday because the Internet company was holding out for $37 per share, even though Microsoft's price was more than 70 percent above where Yahoo shares were trading before the takeover battle started more than three months ago.

"I think it's pretty hard for the Yahoo board to turn down $33 when they've shown no ability to turn around their stock price," said Stuart Grant, managing director at Grant & Eisenhofer, a law firm that specializes in bringing investor lawsuits.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN0434026820080505

Here we go with the lawsuit talks and although I was opposed for Microsoft making the deal, I simply cannot understand why Yahoo did not accept it. Too much ego?

Yahoo Set to Plunge

Yahoo shares are set to tumble today after its dismissal of an improved $46.5bn (£23.6bn) takeover approach from Microsoft prompted the software giant to walk away.

Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, said Microsoft had pulled its $33-a-share offer because Yahoo's demand for $37 made no sense. The move ended three months of discussions and increasingly bitter public statements from each side.

Analysts said Yahoo had overplayed its hand and predicted a fall of up to 30 per cent in the web-search company's share price when the Nasdaq index opens today. The stock jumped almost 7 per cent to $28.67 on Friday as hopes of a deal between the two companies rose. The shares have gained 49 per cent since Microsoft's original approach was announced on 1 February

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/yahoo-set-to-plunge-after-microsofts-46bn-bid-is-withdrawn-821202.html

THANK GOD THE WAR IS OVER......I'm curious to see what the aftermath is going to be now...where is Microsoft headed from here? how deep into the Google partnership will Yahoo dive in? and will the heads of Yahoo face any backlash from owners if the company does go south from here.

Microsoft Can Do Without Yahoo

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft can build a competitive online advertising business without Yahoo but it "could just take more time," CEO Steve Ballmer told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Friday.

The comment came as analysts and industry watchers awaited an imminent announcement on Microsoft's next move in its unresolved quest to acquire Yahoo as part of a strategy to compete with Internet advertising king Google.

Ballmer declined to say how Microsoft would react to Yahoo's rejection of its unsolicited $44.6 billion bid or when the company would announce a decision.

"With the right circumstances it'll happen. Without the right circumstances it won't happen," Ballmer told the Journal.

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3005118.cms

Today's news was filled with headlines about the Yahoo-Microsoft deal, so as tired as I am writing about this cat-and-mouse game, I have no choice. I have to wonder though, if this whole ordeal will hurt Microsoft's chance in the future of mounting a hostile takeover. Will anyone take them serious? I certainly wouldn't

Microsoft to Raise Bid to $46.2 billion

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is said to be willing to raise its offer for Yahoo!, the struggling internet portal, in an attempt to appease Yahoo! shareholders and break the stalemate between the companies.

Microsoft is reportedly considering raising its cash and share offer, currently valued at $29.06 a share, to either $32 or $33 to win over Yahoo!'s institutional shareholders who feel its current bid undervalues Yahoo!, the New York Times reported.

A $33 a share bid would value Yahoo! at $46.2 billion. Yahoo! has 1.4 billion shares in issue.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3853829.ece

Does anyone other than Steve Ballmer and Jerry Wang care anymore? By now I'm sure Google has setup their internet ad business like the Trojan army.

Saving XP

Virtue may be its own reward when you go to church. But, like it or not, virtue generally takes a backseat to profit in the corporate world. But isn't it nice when the two come together?

Case in point: Windows XP, an operating system whose time has not yet passed. At least, we hope not. InfoWorld, of course, has been leading the charge to save XP, and I'm not going to repeat all the reasons that's a good idea.

[ If saving XP is revenue-neutral for Microsoft, keeping XP could mean actual big savings for users, argues Galen Gruman. ]

But to be honest, as a Microsoft stockholder and Wall Street watcher, I might well be inclined to tell InfoWorld to stuff it if I really thought there was a compelling business reason to toss XP overboard. After all, Windows is the engine that drives a huge chunk of Microsoft's revenue and profits; damage it and shareholders suffer. But a legitimate business case for dropping XP doesn't exist.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/tech-bottom-line/archives/2008/05/save_xp_microso.html

If you've been reading my comments throughout this semester, you probable already know what comment I had in mind for this article. So....yea....save the XP

Xbox Price Cut in Asia

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the maker of the Xbox 360 video-game console, cut prices on the system in four Asian markets to help stem market-share losses to Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp.

The Redmond, Washington-based company reduced estimated retail prices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, Brenda Hsieh, a Microsoft spokeswoman in Taipei, said today.
The cuts follow price reductions in Europe that led Xbox 360 sales to double. Microsoft has had trouble breaking into the Asian market because of the dominance of Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo and different game preferences in Asia, Jeff Bell, the vice president of global marketing for Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, said in an interview last week.

The price of a basic version will drop by 17 percent to NT$10,360 ($340) in Taiwan and by about 11 percent in Hong Kong effective today, Hsieh said. Prices will fall 5.1 percent to 369,000 won ($369) in Korea and by 20 percent to S$499 ($366) in Singapore, according to separate e-mailed statements.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aVqA1ezBWXoM&refer=japan

I highly doubt the Asian Market will care about this price cut. With the drastic rise in the price of rice, one of the main consumptions, I think they'll be more occupied with other pricing situations.

CSI: Microsoft

Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.

It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004379751_msftlaw29.html

Now Microsoft is reaching into the CSI files. They should stick with this as opposed to the Internet advertising because seemingly, they can't even start out on the right foot with that. In all seriousness though, this is innovative and probably will be in the next suspenseful - detective movie which will add recognition to this product/service.

Market Falls in Accordance With Microsoft

NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday as disappointing results from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) weighed on the technology sector and a sharp rise in the price of oil hit industrial shares.

Crude oil futures rose above $119 per barrel after the U.S. Navy provided details of an encounter between a cargo ship chartered by the U.S. military and two small boats believed to be Iranian. For details see [ID:nN25305335]. A report on Iranian television said there was no confrontation.

Shares of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) declined 0.6 percent to $81.34 on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.reuters.com/article/usMktRpt/idUSN2515620320080425

I find it extremely impressive and rather encouraging that an entire market can decline on the stock news of Microsoft.

Live Mesh - The Next Best Thing

SAN FRANCISCO (Fortune) -- One thing Microsoft isn't good at creating is buzz - that's Apple expertise. But if there's anything that set the crowd talking this week at Web 2.0 Expo, one of the year's largest gatherings, it was the software giant's upcoming Live Mesh service.

Live Mesh promises to let consumers connect and interact with all of their devices on the Internet. So a desktop at home, a PC at work, a laptop, a music/video player, a mobile phone - anything in theory that can connect to the Internet - gets linked and is available via the "mesh" to anything else. Another virtual device, what Microsoft calls a "Live desktop," resides on the Web and can be used to access all your other connected devices.

"In many respects this marks a sea-change for Microsoft," said Joshua Holbrook, Yankee Group's director of enterprise research, after Microsoft announced Live Mesh on Wednesday. "They are taking a huge step toward opening up" their software so that it permeates the Internet the way it dominates desktop computers.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/25/technology/microsoft_livemesh.fortune/?postversion=2008042514

I really think this is going to be big. Maybe not in the next couple of months, but when a buzz is created for this service/product - who knows how long that is going to take because Microsoft is horrible at creating a buzz - people will become desperate to connect all of their devices together.

Microsoft Shares Fall 6%

Microsoft saw its shares fall 6% after it posted a fall in quarterly profits and earnings forecasts at the lower end of market expectations.

A day earlier the firm said profits fell 11% to $4.39bn (£2.22bn) in the first three months of the year.

Uncertainty about what will happen to the firm's $44.6bn-bid for Yahoo has added to market concerns.

Microsoft had given Yahoo until 26 April to respond but later implied it would wait a few days.
The deadline was due to expire on Saturday but by close of trade on Friday there had been no further statement from Microsoft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7368343.stm

I wouldn't worry if I were Microsoft, the entire economy is going to hell in a handcart. They're just joining the masses. At least they did not have stake in any airline companies.

Investors Want Yahoo War to End

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Shareholders of Microsoft Corp. may be more focused on news regarding the takeover of Yahoo Inc. than the software maker's earnings report and sales forecast today.

Microsoft has dropped 3.5 percent in Nasdaq trading since Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer's $44.6 billion offer to buy Yahoo on Jan. 31. Yahoo's repeated rejections and Ballmer's threat of a proxy fight have shifted investor attention from Microsoft's strengths, said Ken Smith, director of technology investment at Munder Capital Management.

``They need to quit fooling around and get the deal done,'' said Smith, whose Birmingham, Michigan-based firm owns Microsoft and Yahoo shares. ``The fundamentals of Microsoft's business are tremendous, but this has really capped the stock.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aRMEtAr7HAXk&refer=home

Everyone needs to follow Warren Buffet's strategy for business. Be discreet and act quickly. Microsoft is giving Yahoo way too much time to mount a defense and they, like i said would happen, have fought themselves right into a profitable situation with outsourcing their advertisement to Google.

Microsoft Can Go It Alone

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is sending more signals to Yahoo shareholders after the company's Tuesday earnings report. Take it or leave it was the message from Milan, Italy.

"We are offering a lot of money," Ballmer said today at a Microsoft conference, according to Bloomberg."If Yahoo's shareholders like it, that's great. We are prepared to go forward without a merger with Yahoo."

Observers, including Citi Investment Research analyst Brent Thill, whom I quoted in today's story, and a portfolio manager quoted by Bloomberg, don't see it that way.

"[Ballmer's] playing hardball, and I don't think he can win,'' Larry Haverty, an associate portfolio manager at Gamco Investors Inc. in Rye, New York, told Bloomberg. "Microsoft is doing very poorly in these businesses; they have to have Yahoo."

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/2008/04/globetrotting_ballmer_says_microsoft_can_go_forwar.html


OK, he admits that Microsoft can go it alone, yet Ballmer still persists even though analysts argue against the move and the price of Microsoft's stock declined directly after the offer went public. Hmmmm......Doesn't make too much sense

Yahoo Value's to Microsoft Not Affected by it's Performance

SKHIRAT, Morocco (AFP) — Steve Ballmer, head of US software giant Microsoft, said Tuesday latest quarterly performance results from the Internet company Yahoo would not influence the price his company was prepared to pay for a takeover.

"We have a strategy for the Internet that we are very excited about," he told a press conference in this Moroccan town launching a new portal product, MSN Maghreb.

"We think we can accelerate our strategy by buying Yahoo and we will pay what makes sense for us to pay for our shareholders.

"I wish Yahoo all success with the results today... but it does not really affect what the value of Yahoo is to Microsoft."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jYZyBLLKTrPwfAmJXvGPX8koOizw

Isn't there a bit of a contradiction on Microsoft's part. On one end, in this article Ballmer says that Yahoo's performance will not affect the price is Microsoft is willing to pay because the price is reflective of Yahoo's worth to Microsoft's strategy.....On the other hand, in a letter wrote to Yahoo's Board of Directors, Microsoft stated that any further delays will result in a lower bid.

Survey of Innovation

Microsoft is a more innovative company than Nintendo or Sony, according to the results of a poll conducted by BusinessWeek.

Apple, which tops the list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, Microsoft (number 4), Nintendo (number 7), and Sony (number 9) were all called out for their innovative products.

The hallmarks of an innovative company, says BusinessWeek, include nurturing culture that values creative people, developing a portfolio of diverse projects, and taking economic risks. \

A company's rank in the survey was determined using the votes from a 17-question survey, three-year revenue, margin growth, and stock returns. The survey was sent to the 2,500 largest corporations by market share; nearly 3,000 executives responded.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/04/poll-microsoft.html

Concerning the criteria for how the results from this test were gathered - is it me or is this a very very ineffective and even stupid way of seeing how innovative a company is.

Yahoo's Time Running Out

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) faces a critical week that could decide whether the pioneering Web company can remain independent or must surrender to an unsolicited takeover by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Yahoo is racing to forge a credible alternative that lets it stay independent or at least forces Microsoft to raise its $31 a share cash-and-stock bid, now valued at $42.8 billion.

"Yahoo is willing to try things at the 11th hour, that it never felt the urgency to try," Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay said. "Shareholders win, either way."

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2036511520080420

I think its foolish of a company to, instead of building a strategy right from the door to wait and try to hit the shot at the buzzer when your still down by 20. What the hell is Jerry Yang thinking.

Microsoft buys Farecast

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, acquired travel Web site Farecast, gaining technology that predicts whether air fares will rise or fall. Farecast Chief Executive Officer Hugh Crean announced the purchase Thursday on the company's blog. He didn't disclose a price or other terms. Microsoft added the Seattle-based company's prediction and planning services to its MSN Travel Web site in July. Microsoft is making acquisitions to attract more Web users and boost online ad revenue. Microsoft is making acquisitions to attract more Web users and boost online ad revenue. After buying AQuantive for $6 billion last year, Microsoft is now trying to acquire Yahoo. The moves are an effort to catch up with Google in the $40.9 billion global online ad market. "We look forward to working closely with the Farecast team to incorporate and apply its technology in new and interesting ways," Whitney Burk, a spokeswoman for Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, said in an e-mailed statement. She declined to comment further.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_8982732

How are you supposed to predict air fares.....IF ALL FUCKING FLIGHTS ARE CANCELLED BECAUSE OF BANKRUPTCY. THEY SHOULD GET TECHNOLOGY TO SEE HOW THE PRICES OF STOCKS FOR THESE AIRLINES ARE GOING TO NOSEDIVE OUT OF CONTROL