Microsoft bids $44.6B for Yahoo (2008) | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft bids $44.6B for Yahoo (2008)

cnet.com

11 pointsijafri13 comments

Yahoo and Microsoft compete in most of the divisions. Namely search, sports, news, video, mail, chat and advertising. Probably, the news & media part of Yahoo is the only thing better than Microsoft at this point; Even, that I don't see remaining as such for long time with MSN coping up well.

So, if Microsoft would have acquired Yahoo they would have surplus of divisions and similarly talented people & infrastructure; Which would eventually lead to more layoffs and more time wasted consolidating teams, infra, design and resources.

Probably the biggest bullet Microsoft ever dodged considering what it eventually got picked up for.

That deal with Verizon has yet to settle.

http://fortune.com/2016/09/27/verizons-deafening-silence-on-...

Not clear how Yahoo would have worked out within Microsoft.

Verizon will pay $4.8 billion for the yahoo parts of yahoo. If you also include the $40 billon of Alibaba the total number is about the same (but Microsoft still dodged a bullet)

Couldn't locate the 'Alibaba' word on the said article, I was assuming Microsoft had offered it for Yahoo alone ... as it was desperate for 'search' share?? are you sure, the bid included Alibaba share too??

yes. there was no spinco or remainco as it has now with the fdic filings.

You have to factor time value of money. MSFT offer was greater.

Interest rates have been pretty much zero that whole time.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/costofcapital.asp

I'm a professional trader. Please don't insult me by linking to investopedia and saying nothing of your own.

Money is pretty much free in an environment where interest rates are nearly zero. This is true whether you use debt or equity to finance a venture. If my risk-free rate is nearly zero, then I'd be willing to loan you money, or invest my money in your venture, for a fairly slim expected return.

Yahoo is the perfect candidate for the next Microsoft write off. I wonder how these executives analyze these opportunities.

The article is from 2008...

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