Crude, trigo ou ações. Como a cimeira de Trump e Putin no Alasca mexe com os mercados

[SexPistolsPT]

Microsoft Fails to Reach Yahoo Decision
By Kevin J. Delaney, Robert A. Guth and Matthew Karnitschnig
Word Count: 481 | Companies Featured in This Article: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Time Warner
As Microsoft Corp.'s directors met to weigh their takeover standoff with Yahoo Inc., a question loomed: How badly does Chief Executive Steve Ballmer want to own the Internet company?

Microsoft this week indicated a willingness to raise its bid to as much as $33 per Yahoo share, attempting to avoid the hostile takeover battle Mr. Ballmer had threatened, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Ballmer and Microsoft advisers lobbied Yahoo shareholders to bring pressure on its board to do a deal. Yet Mr. Ballmer in recent days has also appeared ready to walk away ...

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By MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG, ROBERT A. GUTH and KEVIN J. DELANEY
April 30, 2008; Page B3

Microsoft Corp. is expected to make its next move in the three-month-old takeover standoff with Yahoo Inc. as early as Wednesday, as the two sides have failed to reach any negotiated acquisition deal.

One option Microsoft has weighed is nominating a proxy slate of directors to replace Yahoo's board, while waiting to put any acquisition offer directly to Yahoo shareholders, say people familiar with the matter.

Such a move could effectively delay Microsoft's fixing any firm new price on its offer for Yahoo for the time being, allowing Microsoft to step back from its $42 billion bid for the Internet company while keeping the option of later going directly to Yahoo shareholders with a hostile acquisition offer. It would represent a largely unanticipated middle path for Microsoft between walking away from its bid and pushing forward an aggressive hostile-takeover campaign.

It isn't clear whether Microsoft will adopt such a maneuver as its final approach in the deal standoff, and any decisions by the company could change between now and when it goes public with its approach. But people close to the software titan say such an approach has been among those on the table.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.

Microsoft has said it would announce its next move in its pursuit of Yahoo this week, and the two sides haven't had any formal negotiations since a deadline Microsoft set for going hostile passed Saturday, say people familiar with the matter.

A central issue dividing them has been price, with Yahoo saying that Microsoft's cash-and-stock offer, valued at $29.12 a share as of Tuesday's market close, "substantially undervalues" it. Some major Yahoo shareholders have signaled they want closer to $35 a share. Some have suggested they wouldn't back Microsoft in a hostile acquisition effort unless it raised the offer above its $31 a share value when initially extended Jan. 31. Yahoo shares were up 3.5% to $27.36 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq trading Tuesday.


Microsoft executives last week laid the groundwork for potentially pulling their bid, with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer saying the software titan was equipped to compete in online advertising without buying Yahoo.

But even if Microsoft didn't right away sweeten its offer or take it directly to shareholders as threatened, it could still set in motion the steps required to nominate a new group of directors for Yahoo. Microsoft has selected 10 nominees and three alternates to nominate to Yahoo's board, says one person familiar with the matter.

Yahoo's poison-pill antitakeover defenses essentially require any would-be hostile acquirer to remove its board. A vote on the directors occurs annually at Yahoo's shareholder meeting, meaning that if Microsoft didn't file a proxy slate for the Yahoo meeting expected this summer it could possibly have to wait another year to do so.

Yahoo hasn't announced a date for its shareholder meeting. But under the law in Delaware, where Yahoo is incorporated, it could be forced to hold the annual meeting if it hasn't already done so by July. Microsoft would have 10 days from any public announcement by Yahoo of the meeting date to submit its proxy slate.

Waiting to take any offer to Yahoo shareholders could allow Microsoft to benefit from any recovery in its shares, which have lost about 12% since it made its Yahoo offer public Feb. 1. It could also put pressure on Yahoo directors to engage in negotiations with Microsoft over price, given the absence so far of any firm alternatives to lift Yahoo's share price in the short term.

It is unclear what exactly would happen to Yahoo shares in such a scenario. Some analysts estimated Yahoo would fall to between $20 and $25 a share if Microsoft dropped its bid entirely.

Write to Kevin J. Delaney at kevin.delaney@wsj.com

by: Wall Street Journal



Um braço de ferro que pode durar, e segundo me apercebi noutras noticias e rumores, a Google está com interesse em adquirir a Yahoo. Quem é que ganha com isto tudo? Os investidores da Yahoo!

[acintra]

Bom dia!

Earnings top estimates and guidance impresses, but it may not be enough to lure Microsoft into raising its takeover bid for the Internet company.

Last Updated: April 22, 2008: 6:31 PM EDT

Yahoo tops estimates


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Internet search giant Yahoo Inc. announced first-quarter sales and profits Tuesday that topped analysts' estimates but it remains unclear if that will be enough to force Microsoft to raise its takeover bid.

Yahoo posted net income of $542 million, or 37 cents per share, nearly quadrupling from a year ago.

But excluding one-time gains from an investment in Chinese Internet stock Alibaba.com, Yahoo's profits came in at $150 million, or 11 cents per share, down 2.6% from a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, who normally exclude one-time events from their forecasts, were looking for a profit of 9 cents per share.

Sales rose 9% to $1.82 billion. Excluding advertising sales that Yahoo shares with partners (also known as traffic acquisition costs or TAC), the company reported revenue of $1.35 billion, topping analysts' forecasts of $1.32 billion.

Yahoo also offered second-quarter revenue guidance of $1.73 to $1.93 billion, which far outpaced analysts' consensus forecasts of $1.37 billion for the quarter.

All of this comes as the deadline to accept Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) unsolicited takeover bid - now valued at about $43 billion - approaches on Saturday.

Ball in Microsoft's court
Yahoo rejected Microsoft's initial offer, but Yahoo's earnings may not have done enough to change Microsoft's bid. Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer said earlier Tuesday that Yahoo's earnings - whether positive or negative - would not change his company's proposal, according to Reuters.

"The likelihood that Yahoo will be able to fend off Microsoft seems very low, mainly because in essence [Yahoo] is a company that's in a multi-year slide," said Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown. "Even though the quarter was better than expected, there is uncertainty if it will be a trend."

In order to avoid a hostile takeover bid, Yahoo spent $14 million "for outside advisors related to Microsoft's unsolicited proposal and other strategic alternatives," according to its earnings release.

As part of its strategy to fend off Microsoft, the company also postponed the March 14 deadline for nominating candidates to its board.

In addition, Yahoo is making a concerted effort to right its ship by trimming its workforce by 7% and refocusing on its core display-ad business, "the most fundamental aspect of advertising," according to Yahoo's President Sue Decker. At the same time, Yahoo is also hoping to regain market share in search that it has lost to top rival Google.

"The board's decision to reject Microsoft's bid was based on the strength of our business," said Yahoo co-founder and chief executive officer Jerry Yang in a conference call with analysts, saying Microsoft's offer undervalued the company.

But he added that Yahoo's board is "open to any and all alternatives, including a deal with Microsoft" if the price was right.

Yahoo's rejection of Microsoft's bid prompted rumors that Yahoo is trying to work a counter deal with AOL - the Internet wing of CNNMoney.com's parent company, Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500). It also sparked talks of a joint-takeover bid by Microsoft and News Corp (NWS, Fortune 500).

Adding to the scramble, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), which impressed investors with its earnings last Thursday, recently struck a trial deal with Yahoo that will place its AdSense search results on Yahoo's Web site. Some analysts see the partnership as an attempt to disrupt Microsoft's takeover bid.

Ad business steady in uncertain economy
Google last Thursday posted impressive first-quarter earnings, allaying some analysts' fears that Internet search advertising may be vulnerable to the current U.S. economic slump. But Yahoo has recently increased its focus on display ads, also known as graphical or banner ads, which some analysts believe are more likely to be affected by a downturn in the economy.

That's because several of the companies that buy Yahoo's display ads - as opposed to text links that Google predominately offers - are big companies in slumping sectors such as the automotive and financial sectors.

"We're not immune to economic conditions, but we have a very diverse advertising base," said Yang. "We will be well positioned to perform as well as or better than the market as the uncertainty continues."

Shares of Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) were relatively flat in after-hours trading. Yahoo's stock is trading about 50% higher than where it was before Microsoft first made its buyout bid on Feb. 1, as investors have been predicting a deal will eventually go through.