Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Management, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

For some reason this morning several high profile stories I’ve been ranting about in current months have floated to the top of the headline heap again.

I just read that Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang is ready to return to the bargaining table with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) stating: “To this day, I believe the ideal thing for Microsoft to do is to purchase Yahoo,” Yang stated Wednesday evening at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This has to be one of the biggest jokes in the investment world — unless you’re a Yahoo! shareholder. It was only last week I posted Yahoo rejects $30 to purchase itself for $12?

Microsoft could now offer a 20% premium to today’s stock price and still buy Yahoo for half what it offered last January. What do they state — “good things come to those who wait”. This is certainly a screaming example.

I would love to be in the conference room or on the call when Microsoft offers up a few crumbs to bail them out of a sticky situation. I was against MSFT doing the deal for a bloated price before, but it might make sense now. It could buy the company, and with Wall Street titan and M&A guy Carl Icahn on board, slice and dice this thing so that it cost them next to nothing to get the search advertising part of the company they coveted.

Yang looks like a child playing with grown-ups and his biography is taking one hit after another. Good thing he does not need food money and will never have to work again no matter what happens. By contrast, if Yahoo! took the $44 billion it would have been the deal of the year and Yang would look brilliant again. If I was a shareholder I would be really, really steamed!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I don’t own shares of MSFT or YHOO.

MSFT/YHOO: Jerry Yang, are you kidding? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Deals, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Market matters, Viacom (VIA), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), CIT Group (CIT), MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Dean Foods (DF), Economic data, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)

U.S. stock futures were higher Tuesday morning at the begin of the election day. Overseas, markets also edged higher ahead of the U.S. presidential election, while oil prices declined further to below $64 a barrel. While it is uncertain yet if any of the candidates would help boost sentiments and the markets as the economy is distressed either way, some analysts state much of the bad news around the economy and corporate profits are already priced into stocks. September factory orders will be released today.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)’s arm GE Capital may be able to get some help from the Treasury. The Wall Street Journal reported its sources say the Treasury has been considering using more of its $700 billion rescue fund to buy stakes in a broad range of financial companies, not just banks and insurers. Apparently, initial signs show the program has been a success, and therefore might be expanded. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was cited as another candidate for help. GE shares are up 2.6% in premarket trading,

MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) shares soared over 8% in after-hours trade Monday after the credit card processor has posted better-than-expected profit (after charges) boosted by revenue growth. It has also adjusted profit better than forecast. MasterCard, however, took a charge of $515 million for settling a lawsuit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), making its net loss $194 million.

Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) earnings, however, dropped 37% year over year, but adjusted earnings were inline with expectations.

Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks higher on Election Day; GE, MA, VIA, ADM, DF, MRVL, AAPL …

Before the bell: Stocks higher on Election Day; GE, MA, VIA, ADM, DF, MRVL, AAPL … originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Deals, Next big thing, Small business

Even top social networks such as MySpace and Facebook have a tough time monetizing traffic. So, just envision how hard it is for the smaller players.

Perhaps one approach to deal with this issue is consolidation, right?

Well, this week Reunion.com and Wink have agreed to a merger. In fact, the companies plan to create a new brand (to be launched early next year) and focus on so-called “people search.” The goal is to build a database with 700 million user profiles. How? There will be integration with the myriad of social networks across the globe.

There will be resources to execute on the business model as last year Reunion.com snagged $25 million in venture capital.

In fact, Reunion.com is profitable since the company charges for premium services, such as to view certain user profiles and since it has attracted an older demographic (because of the desire to reunite with former friends and classmates).

Despite all this, VCs are showing less enthusiasm for social networking deals. In other words, Reunion.com and Wink will likely need to be frugal in building out their new brand, which will certainly not be an easy task.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He’s also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Reunion.com and Wink hook-up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Wal-Mart (WMT), PepsiCo (PEP), General Motors (GM), Motorola (MOT), Market matters, Viacom (VIA), Halliburton (HAL), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Citigroup Inc. (C), Boeing Co (BA), Carnival Corp (CCL), Ciena Corp (CIEN), MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Economic data, Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT)

U.S. stock futures were somewhat higher Monday morning as investors put October — one of the worst months ever — behind them and braced for the impact of the presidential election. A slew of economic data will be released this week, including September construction spending and the October release of the ISM index due this day after the market opens. Global stocks were generally higher even as oil slipped again.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) said Monday it will invest $1 billion in China over the next four years. The beverage company wants to expand local manufacturing ability, research and development and sales force.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) — the company has been in the process of trying to find a way to merge with Chrysler. While we didn’t hear much about the merger so far from the United Auto Workers union, it seems
it intends to play a key part in it and has has retained an adviser to help with workers’ concerns should the merger occur, the WSJ reported.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) saw its 27,000 machinists resuming work Sunday after a 57-day strike that shut down production. Because of logistics, it will take several weeks before Boeing is running normally. The company missed at least 70 deliveries as a result of the strike. Seems it might miss more until production is properly under way. Boeing was downgraded to Conviction Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs, saying investors should sell into the strength from the resolution of the machinists union strike.

Continue reading Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of election; BA, PEP, C, GM, MA, WMT, HAL, MOT, CSIQ …

Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of election; BA, PEP, C, GM, MA, WMT, HAL, MOT, CSIQ … originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Since The Department of Justice appears ready to challenge a deal for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) to sell search ads for rival Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the two companies might quit while they are ahead. Or behind, depending on who is looking. Regulators are worried that the marriage would create a sort of monopoly on search ads because the two companies have about 85% of that market between them.

If the planned joint initiative fails, it hurts Yahoo! much more than Google. While the bigger company would have made some money on sales commissions in the future, Yahoo! needs that revenue to help justify why it should remain independent. Google is also concerned that Justice might think about it a monopoly on its own since it holds a market share in search of about 65%. According to The Wall Street Journal, “By dropping out, Google would likely be seeking to avoid a legal battle that would spotlight its market power.”

Observers believe that if Yahoo! cannot set up a Google deal, it is more likely to arrange a marriage with Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) world wide web unit or AOL so that it can gain more scale in the online ad market.

Yahoo! also has the very real option of going it alone. That wouldn’t be good for investors who put their money in at over $30 a share when Microsoft made a takeover bid, but it could be very good for shareholders who purchased in around the current price of $13, making Yahoo!’s market cap only $18 billion. The company has valuable assets including Yahoo! Japan and China e-commerce company Alibaba. Yahoo! also has $3 billion in cash and will probably have an operating profit of well over $500 million this year. It is the largest world wide web display advertising firm in the U.S.

Yahoo! might simply be best off going its own way. It might surprise investors by doing fairly well.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Yahoo and Google may dump their deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Deals, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Market matters, Chevron Corp (CVX), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Economic data, Nissan Motors (NSANY)

U.S. stock futures fell Friday morning, after two days of gains and ahead of some economic data that will likely show further economic distress. The economic releases are: the employment cost index for q3, personal income and spending for September, the Chicago manufacturing PMI and the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence for October. Global stocks generally declined Friday as oil again dropped below $65 a barrel to around $63.50. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.3%, which was less than expected, causing the Nikkei to drop by 5%.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is due to report this morning, following Exxon Mobil’s (NYSE: XOM) record profit reported Thursday.

Burger King (NYSE: BKC) reported first quarter earnings of 38 cents per share, ex-items, below the consensus of 39 cents. Revenues came in at $674 million, versus the consensus of $667.6 million.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) shares dropping 14% in after-hours trading after it posted a wider loss and reduced its annual forecast. The game maker also announced layoffs.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) on Thursday reported a $1.68 billion fiscal first-quarter loss due to charges, but sales also fell more than 7% from a year ago. In all, ex-items, the company would have lost $65 million, or 9 cents a share on revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter. Shares were down 3% in after-hours.

Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks to decline; CVX, ERTS, JAVA, BKC, GOOG, YHOO, GM, F, AAPL, INTC

Before the bell: Stocks to decline; CVX, ERTS, JAVA, BKC, GOOG, YHOO, GM, F, AAPL, INTC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Can you remember back ten months ago to January 31, when the Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) board (think Jerry Yang) rejected a $30per share offer from Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT). This buyout offer of $44.6 billion was made by the software giant to combine forces with Yahoo!, against the supposedly next evil empire, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

That was so long ago when the DJIA was thousands of points higher and the current presidents administration was in full recession denial mode. A lot has happened since then.

Yesterday Yahoo! shut at $12.25 per share, about 60% less than the offer, while MSFT shut at $23.08, down about 20%. This is important because it means that if Yahoo! accepted an all stock offer, shareholders would be way ahead of the game and be collecting dividends.

Continue reading Yahoo rejects $30 to purchase itself for $12?

Yahoo rejects $30 to buy itself for $12? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Deals, Press releases, Products and services, Launches, Viacom (VIA), Activision Inc (ATVI)

Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA)’s MTV Games and The Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. announced during a conference call this morning that a new interactive music game based on The Beatles catalog is in development for a late 2009 release. The untitled game will be based on the career of The Beatles and the platform for MTV’s Rock Band, but won’t be a spin-off of the popular series as rumored previously. According to Billboard, “the game is designed to take users on an ‘experiential journey’ through the Beatles’ career, music and vision. It will also include new types of interactive gameplay associated with the Beatles’ imagery in addition to its music.”

Continue reading MTV grabs The Beatles catalog for music-based game

MTV grabs The Beatles catalog for music-based game originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, Apple Inc (AAPL), General Motors (GM), Motorola (MOT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market matters, CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Eastman Kodak (EK), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Economic data, Unilever ADR (UL), Delta Air Lines (DAL)

U.S. stock futures were much higher this morning, indicating markets could open with strong gains a day after the Federal Reserve cut rates by half a point to 1% and indicated further measures will be taken as necessary. While Wall Street ended mixed, global markets took this, as well as other measures central banks around the world have been taking, as a good sign and stocks in Asia and Europe rallied. However, at 8:30 a.m. this morning, advanced GDP for the third quarter will be released, and will likely show the economy has contracted for the first time. Economists expect GDP fell 0.5-0.6% in the quarter. Weekly jobless claims is also due at the same time.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) - sometime before the opening bell, Exxon is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings. Much like other oil producers that have already reported, posting massive profits for the quarter due to record high oil prices, so is Exxon expected to report sharply higher profit.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) - after the merger was approved Wednesday, Delta completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) on Wednesday to become the world’s biggest carrier. Shares of both carriers surged 6% in after-hours.

Continue reading Before the bell: Futures soar ahead of GDP; DAL, XOM, GM, ALU, MOT, UL …

Before the bell: Futures soar ahead of GDP; DAL, XOM, GM, ALU, MOT, UL … originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Deals, General Motors (GM), Recession

With speaks swirling about low-interest taxpayer funded loans for General Motors (NYSE: GM), there’s a lot of discussion about whether the automaker is too massive to fail.

Center for Automotive Research David Cole estimates that a GM bankruptcy could cost America two million jobs. With that in mind, some defenders of the industry have pushed for billions in loans for the industry, arguing that the costs of keeping the guy in a coma on life support are outweighed by the catastrophic fallout that would result from the company’s failure.

They might be right about that, but here’s the issue: any bailout could be structured in a manner that transfers the ownership of the company to the federal government. Does that sound socialist? Perhaps — but so is billions in low-interest loans for a private company.

The problem is that General Motors stock is trading at an artificially high price on hopes that the company will receive a bailout — a bailout for GM that leaves the company’s equity intact amounts to a handout to Wall Street speculators. That’s wrong.

GM workers’ jobs can be saved without saving the holders of the company’s common stock. If a bailout should happen, that’s the way it should happen.

Would a General Motors bankruptcy really be a disaster? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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