Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services

A few weeks ago eBay announced plans to change its fee structure. The company was spinning the move as something that would help sellers save money. But that only worked out to be true in some instances. Since eBay planned to lower listing fees but raise final sale fees, most sellers were a bit concerned that they’d wind up giving eBay a higher percentage of their hard earned cash.

Responding to concerns from sellers, eBay has announced yet another fee structure change. This time, the listing fees for media including books, music, movies, and video games will go way down. The price for listing an item with a starting price less than a buck drops from $0.20 to $0.10. Sellers with starting bids of less than $10 will now be charged $0.25 instead of $0.40. And if you’ve got an item with a starting bid of under $25, you pay $0.35 instead of $0.60.

Since eBay is still raising the fees on final sales, in most cases sellers will still wind up paying owing eBay a little more. But today’s announcement softens the blow. A little.

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Filed under: Deals

E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) put out a pretty blustering press release this morning with its headline proclaiming that “E*TRADE FINANCIAL Marks Progress on Turnaround Plan.”

The news? This company that has watched its stock lose billions in market value as a result of horrible subprime investments is selling RAA Wealth Management, LLC to PHH Investments, Ltd for about $80 million.

The fact that E*Trade is PR’ing this minor sale of a company it acquired in August of 2006 with such a hyped-up headline is pretty indicative of how hard the company is working to try to generate some good buzz — It’s a tiny bit like the company’s Super Bowl ads.

The company said that “As outlined last month in the details of its Turnaround Plan, the Company is actively working to improve capital and liquidity. Management has identified non-core assets with high market demand that will create value for the franchise through the orderly sale of such assets.”

So maybe this is a baby step. But the fact is that $80 million is not going to make or break this company’s turnaround — and investors shouldn’t pay much attention to promotional PR like this from E*Trade or any other company.

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Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors officially rejected Microsoft”s (NASDAQ: MSFT) already generous bid of $44.6 billion for the company. Not a surprise, and Microsoft will actually pay up for the deal to occur. Microsoft has to and they’re now over a barrel. Let’s explore why.

Microsoft spent over $6 billion last year to acquire the ideal company in the on-line digital advertising/marketing space, aQuantive. To monetize this acquisition and effectively, or least try to compete with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft needs a much bigger platform in the search engine sector. No question, even with all of its might and brand name recognition, the ideal Microsoft could muster is a 3.9% market share for its MSN versus Google’s big 76%. Yahoo! has 15% share and combined with MSN, the share rises to just under 20%. Still a small player versus Google but a viable one.

Microsoft allegedly bid for Yahoo! last year for $40. Even though never confirmed by the various celebrations, but the leak-the-news network pretty much had it in tow. Otherwise, why would Yahoo! reject $31 per share offer, a good 60% higher than its current stock market price of $19.18? Because Yahoo! knows full well that Microsoft needs Yahoo! very, very badly.

On its own merits, Yahoo! is a broken story. Momentum is gone and senior management is sufficient at ideal. Investors know it, too. At each turn, Google is knocking the heck out of Yahoo! and Microsoft as well. Microsoft knows it cannot build it, it must be acquired. No other viable option. Period.

Yahoo!, however, for a broken story is sitting in the cat bird seat–at least for the moment. The smoke screen of combining with AOL or partnering up with Google are neither an acceptable option nor a long term viable strategy. The stakes in the search engine/digital advertising/marketing game are enormous. Let’s put this into perspective. In less than ten years of existence and less than four years as a public company, Google is on track to reach $16-17 billion of revenues this year. No other company in American corporate history has reached this kind of hyper-growth. Take a minimum of 30% growth for the next five years and Google’s revenues will be at a staggering $55-60 billion. The profitability is also at a stunning rate of 35% plus.

Microsoft will swallow its pride and some of its own current market cap and pay up for Yahoo!. Microsoft began this motion picture and now they must finish it. In the meantime, Yahoo! personnel are and will continue to be distracted and as I wrote before, Google can pick up even more market share these next 18 months before Microsoft has a clear strategy with the eventual Yahoo! acquisition.

Georges Yared writes about great growth stocks this day in GameOn Investing.

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Filed under: Deals

E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) put out a pretty blustering press release this morning with its headline proclaiming that “E*TRADE FINANCIAL Marks Progress on Turnaround Plan.”

The news? This company that has watched its stock lose billions in market value as a result of horrible subprime investments is selling RAA Wealth Management, LLC to PHH Investments, Ltd for about $80 million.

The fact that E*Trade is PR’ing this minor sale of a company it acquired in August of 2006 with such a hyped-up headline is pretty indicative of how hard the company is working to try to generate some good buzz — It’s a tiny bit like the company’s Super Bowl ads.

The company said that “As outlined last month in the details of its Turnaround Plan, the Company is actively working to improve capital and liquidity. Management has identified non-core assets with high market demand that’ll create value for the franchise through the orderly sale of such assets.”

So maybe this is a baby step. But the fact is that $80 million is not going to make or break this company’s turnaround — and investors shouldn’t pay much attention to promotional PR like this from E*Trade or any other company.

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Filed under: Deals, Consumer experience, Starbucks (SBUX), AT and T (T), Workspace, Technology

Finally! Needing a place to park with your laptop but too far from a Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA)? Finally, you can enjoy the soothing environment of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) for free … well, for the price of a latte or two. The coffee king of Seattle is ending its Wi-Fi partnership with T-Mobile and linking up with AT&T (NYSE: T). The new deal is expected to roll out gradually beginning this spring.

The new plan, while not perfect, is certainly better for those of us who want to pop in for a quick email check or blog update. It provides each customer with 2 free hours of WiFi service per day, with additional 2-hour blocks available for $3.99. Monthly subscriptions will cost $19.99 and provide access to AT&T hotspots in other locations in addition to Starbucks branches.

If you’re already an AT&T broadband customer, you’re eligible for free World wide web access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S.

Still in need of WiFi that’s free all day, every day, regardless of your at-home broadband provider? Look for your closest Panera, or use an on the internet Wi-Fi hot spot finder that can direct you to local coffee shops, book stores, and even gas stations that have the service.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

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Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Yahoo!’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors officially rejected Microsoft”s (NASDAQ: MSFT) already generous bid of $44.6 billion for the company. Not a surprise, and Microsoft will actually pay up for the deal to occur. Microsoft has to and they’re now over a barrel. Let’s explore why.

Microsoft spent over $6 billion last year to acquire the best company in the on-line digital advertising/marketing space, aQuantive. To monetize this acquisition and effectively, or least try to compete with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft needs a much more massive platform in the search engine sector. No question, even with all of its might and brand name recognition, the best Microsoft could muster is a 3.9% market share for its MSN versus Google’s big 76%. Yahoo! has 15% share and combined with MSN, the share rises to just under 20%. Still a small player versus Google but a viable one.

Microsoft allegedly bid for Yahoo! last year for $40. Although never confirmed by the various celebrations, but the leak-the-news network pretty much had it in tow. Otherwise, why would Yahoo! reject $31 per share offer, a good 60% higher than its recent stock market price of $19.18? Because Yahoo! knows full well that Microsoft needs Yahoo! very, very badly.

On its own merits, Yahoo! is a broken story. Momentum is gone and senior management is adequate at best. Investors know it, too. At each turn, Google is knocking the heck out of Yahoo! and Microsoft as well. Microsoft knows it can’t build it, it must be acquired. No other viable option. Period.

Yahoo!, however, for a broken story is sitting in the cat bird seat–at least for the moment. The smoke screen of combining with AOL or partnering up with Google are neither an acceptable option nor a long term viable strategy. The stakes in the search engine/digital advertising/marketing game are enormous. Let’s put this into perspective. In less than ten years of existence and less than four years as a public company, Google is on track to accomplish $16-17 billion of revenues this year. No other company in American corporate history has reached this kind of hyper-growth. Take a minimum of 30% growth for the next five years and Google’s revenues will be at a staggering $55-60 billion. The profitability is also at a stunning rate of 35% plus.

Microsoft will swallow its pride and some of its own current market cap and pay up for Yahoo!. Microsoft began this movie and now they have to finish it. In the meantime, Yahoo! personnel are and will continue to be distracted and as I wrote before, Google can pick up even more market share these next 18 months before Microsoft has a clear strategy with the eventual Yahoo! acquisition.

Georges Yared writes about great growth stocks today in GameOn Investing.

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Filed under: Deals, Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines might reach a merger agreement within weeks after sharing details of the plan with pilot unions, people close to the speaks said, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

An announcement of the merger might come within weeks, Bloomberg News reported.

The merger would create the world’s biggest airline in terms of traffic, Delta served about 74 million passengers in 2007; Northwest, about 56 million. The combined entity would vault past no. 1 carrier American Airlines (NYSE: AMR), which served 129.5 million passengers.

Delta’s (NYSE: DAL) shares were down 23 cents to $19.95, while Northwest (NYSE: NWS) declined 23 cents to $20.62 in Monday afternoon trading.

Analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Monday a Delta / Northwest represents a good operational fit, for several reasons.

First, pilot cultures in Delta and Northwest “appear to be in-sync” on the combined entity’s new seniority, work schedule and flight assignment rules, he said. Work schedule adjustments will have to occur, he said, but if each pilot camp undertakes the same adjustment per pay grade, each camp will view the other side as making a proportionate sacrifice. “It’s the No. 1 issue for pilots because seniority is critical. It determines what they fly and when,” Bauer stated.

Second, Bauer said if the pilots from Delta and Northwest can concur on a long-term pay and productivity-based compensation package, that’ll “set the tone for similar agreements with remaining employees, the mechanics, flight attendants, baggage workers, and customer service personnel.”

“The airline sector has experienced enormous changes in the last 20 years in flight availability, in pricing, and of course in security, but one thing hasn’t changed. The pilots set the tone,” Bauer said. “Work agreements with pilots are the basis for other work agreements in the company.” Bauer added that he does not have a rating on any airline nor own any airline’s shares.

Too many carriers

Many sector analysts believe the U.S. market has too many carriers, and could benefit from 2 or even 3 mergers / takeovers. American Airlines is the largest carrier by traffic, followed by United Air Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA), Delta, Continental (NYSE: CAL) and Northwest.

Mergers, analysts state, would enhance the sector’s economies of scale, reduce redundancies and waste, and ultimately lead to stronger carriers.

A combined Delta (460 planes) and Northwest (515 planes) would have 975 planes, the largest fleet in the world, ahead of American, with 655 planes; United, 578 planes; Germany’s Lufthansa, 526 planes; and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), 521 planes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Delta / Northwest flexibility

Bauer said he likes the operational flexibility that a combined Delta / Northwest would have with almost 1,000 jets.

“They may not deploy that many planes, but the combined company would have several economy of scale advantages from ticketing to meals, and they’ll be able to respond much quicker with alternative planes when planes are suddenly taken out of service for an unscheduled repair,” Bauer stated.

Further, oil’s high price is adding to airlines’ cost structure, “so it makes sense to add revenue per mile by sustainable means, and mergers are one,” Bauer said.

In addition, Bauer stated competition from European airlines is apt to increase after March 2008, when a new treaty takes effect giving European carriers greater leeway to operate flights to the U.S.

Any potential airline merger would be subject to federal anti-trust and national security reviews, he added.

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Filed under: Deals, Consumer experience, Starbucks (SBUX), AT and T (T), Workspace, Technology

Finally! Needing a place to park with your laptop but too far from a Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA)? Finally, you can enjoy the soothing environment of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) for free … well, for the price of a latte or two. The coffee king of Seattle is ending its Wi-Fi partnership with T-Mobile and linking up with AT&T (NYSE: T). The new deal is expected to roll out gradually beginning this spring.

The new plan, while not perfect, is certainly superior for those of us who want to pop in for a swift email check or blog update. It provides each customer with 2 free hours of WiFi service per day, with additional 2-hour blocks available for $3.99. Monthly subscriptions will cost $19.99 and provide access to AT&T hotspots in other locations in addition to Starbucks branches.

If you are already an AT&T broadband customer, you’re eligible for free Internet access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S.

Still in need of WiFi that’s free all day, each day, regardless of your at-home broadband provider? Look for your closest Panera, or use an online Wi-Fi hot spot finder that can direct you to local coffee shops, book stores, and even gas stations that have the service.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research.

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Filed under: Major movement, Analyst reports, Deals, Rumors, Industry, Oracle Corp (ORCL), Options, salesforce.com inc (CRM)

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) shares are higher this day after a Piper Jaffray analyst reiterated his Purchase rating and $70 price target on the stock, citing increased user satisfaction and the potential of higher revenues with the company’s adoption of the AppExchange program. But the real excitement on the Street stems from rumors that the CRM has approached Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) with a $75 a share sale offer. If you think that the company won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on CRM.

After hitting one-year low of $37.24 in August, the stock hit a one-year high of $65.52 in December. CRM opened this morning at $53.06. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $53.06 and a high of $55.90. As of 11:25, CRM is trading at $54.76, up $3.89 (7.7%). The chart for CRM looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March bull-put credit spread below the $40 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. This particular trade will make a 9.9% return in just six weeks as long as CRM is above $40 at March expiration. Salesforce.com would have to fall by more than 26% before we would start to lose money.

CRM hasn’t been below $40 since September and has shown support around $50 recently. This trade could be risky if the economy continues to worsen, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find from its 200-day moving average, which is currently around $48 and rising.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in CRM. He does control bullish hedged positions in ORCL.

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Filed under: Deals, Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines might reach a merger agreement within weeks after sharing details of the plan with pilot unions, people close to the talks stated, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

An announcement of the merger might come within weeks, Bloomberg News reported.

The merger would create the world’s biggest airline in terms of traffic, Delta served about 74 million passengers in 2007; Northwest, about 56 million. The combined entity would vault past no. 1 carrier American Airlines (NYSE: AMR), which served 129.5 million passengers.

Delta’s (NYSE: DAL) shares were down 23 cents to $19.95, while Northwest (NYSE: NWS) declined 23 cents to $20.62 in Monday afternoon trading.

Analyst C. Leonard Bauer told BloggingStocks Monday a Delta / Northwest represents a good operational fit, for several reasons.

First, pilot cultures in Delta and Northwest “appear to be in-sync” on the combined entity’s new seniority, work schedule and flight assignment rules, he said. Work schedule adjustments will have to occur, he said, but if each pilot camp undertakes the same adjustment per pay grade, each camp will view the other side as making a proportionate sacrifice. “It’s the No. 1 issue for pilots because seniority is critical. It determines what they fly and when,” Bauer stated.

Second, Bauer said if the pilots from Delta and Northwest can concur on a long-term pay and productivity-based compensation package, that will “set the tone for similar agreements with remaining employees, the mechanics, flight attendants, baggage workers, and customer service personnel.”

“The airline sector has experienced enormous changes in the last 20 years in flight availability, in pricing, and of course in security, but one thing hasn’t changed. The pilots set the tone,” Bauer said. “Work agreements with pilots are the basis for other work agreements in the company.” Bauer added that he does not have a rating on any airline nor own any airline’s shares.

Too many carriers

Many sector analysts believe the U.S. market has too many carriers, and could benefit from 2 or even 3 mergers / takeovers. American Airlines is the largest carrier by traffic, followed by United Air Airlines (NASDAQ: UAUA), Delta, Continental (NYSE: CAL) and Northwest.

Mergers, analysts say, would enhance the sector’s economies of scale, reduce redundancies and waste, and ultimately lead to stronger carriers.

A combined Delta (460 planes) and Northwest (515 planes) would have 975 planes, the largest fleet in the world, ahead of American, with 655 planes; United, 578 planes; Germany’s Lufthansa, 526 planes; and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), 521 planes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Delta / Northwest flexibility

Bauer said he likes the operational flexibility that a combined Delta / Northwest would have with nearly 1,000 jets.

“They may not deploy that many planes, but the combined company would have several economy of scale advantages from ticketing to meals, and they’ll be able to respond much quicker with substitute planes when planes are suddenly taken out of service for an unscheduled repair,” Bauer stated.

Further, oil’s high price is adding to airlines’ cost structure, “so it makes sense to add revenue per mile by sustainable means, and mergers are one,” Bauer said.

In addition, Bauer said competition from European airlines is likely to increase after March 2008, when a new treaty takes effect giving European carriers greater leeway to operate flights to the U.S.

Any potential airline merger would be subject to federal anti-trust and national security reviews, he added.

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