Topics: Google

Source: Yahoo Talking To Google To Fend Off Microsoft

Posted by Eric Zeman, Feb 5, 2008 08:31 AM

According to a Reuters report, Yahoo said it would consider joining forces with Google in order to prevent Microsoft from acquiring it. What sort of partnership could it strike with Google that would hold Microsoft at bay while not triggering antitrust issues? Oh, and Yahoo says $31 per share isn't good enough.

Google complained over the weekend that Microsoft + Yahoo = stifled competition and bad news for the Internet. How pairing Yahoo and Google together is any less monopolistic is beyond me at the moment. Antitrust issues aside, Yahoo indicated that it is willing to revisit talks it had with Google about forming an alliance of sorts.

Whether or not this notion comes as a result of Google CEO Eric Schmidt's call to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang in offer of support, is unknown. Either way, Yahoo is considering a range of options, including partnering with its arch-enemy.

One possibility is that Google could take over Yahoo's advertising businesses in exchange for a huge chunk of change. With Google controlling Yahoo's ads, a major reason for Microsoft to buy Yahoo goes away.

Yahoo's managers have a lot of thinking to do. Microsoft's offer of $44.6 billion was not exactly a low-ball first bid. That represented a 61% premium over Yahoo's stock price on Thursday (Yahoo's stock has since gone up). Yahoo feels that the $31 per share offered undervalues the company. It didn't say that it had requested a higher number from Microsoft, which has indicated it will use cash and loans to buy Yahoo. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay suggested that Yahoo's real worth is closer to $39-$45 a share.

The likelihood of another company stepping in and beating Microsoft's bid is not high. Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., said his company is not interested in bidding. Rumors suggested that Apple might buy Yahoo, but that seems an unlikely scenario given Apple's strong relationship with Google.

Not many other companies have $50 billion sitting around burning a hole in their pockets.

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