“No thanks, Rupert!” Microsoft Corp says it wants to stick with its original takeover offer for Yahoo Inc, but is not ruling out News Corp joining its bid or other options, a source close to the company said on Friday. Separately, News Corp is rumored to continue to talk directly with Yahoo on reaching a deal without Microsoft.
Fighting for a technical knock out, Microsoft has delivered what many define as the final ultimatum to Yahoo to either come to the bargaining table or face a proxy contest to unseat their board of directors.
The Yahooligans have parried with a letter of their own, and a deft counterpunch. First, rebutting that the initial offer undervalues Yahoo’s worth and then landing a stunning shot by announcing a two-week pilot experiment with Google AdSense for Search ads that will be seen alongside 3% of search results on Yahoo’s website.
Hit with that wallop, Microsoft cried foul: “Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands and make the market far less competitive,” complained MS General Counsel Brad Smith.
Last week, Yahoo offered details about AMP, its streamlined advertising management platform for publications that it plans to launch in the third quarter. Yahoo has also opened up its search, e-mail and mobile products to developers, and embraced the Semantic Web and OpenSocial initiatives. .
Other fancy footwork just may keep Yahoo standing at the bell. The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo and AOL are close on finalizing a deal that would combine parts of both companies. The deal would bridge Time Warner’s Internet operations with Yahoo by folding the AOL unit into Yahoo. In return, Time Warner would make a cash investment of about 20% of the combined entity. [24×7]
Seattle’s Top Librarian Leaves Central Mothership to Join Gates Foundation
Deborah Jacobs, the city of Seattle’s librarian who also managed the many literary angles of the geodesic architectural marvel that is Seatte’s Central Library, will leave her job in July and head across town to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jacobs will become the deputy director, global libraries for the Seattle-based foundation on Aug. 10. The global libraries division is aimed at improving access to technology for the world’s libraries.
In late 2006, the Gates Foundation announced a $328 million expansion of its global libraries initiative, which will attempt to bring free Internet access and training into as many as 15 countries over the next several years.
In November 2005, Jacobs was named one of 20 women of influence profiled in the Puget Sound Business Journal, when she said ” I grew up intending to be an attorney and sit on the Supreme Court, but I decided at 20 that if I wanted to make the world a better place it would be through public libraries.” She assisted in the development of the Central Library which some opine resembles a spaceship with its kaleidoscopic building geometry. [24×7]
