Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Sunday, May 04, 2008 Yahoo's Fate After Microsoft  While many are preparing for a dark day for Yahoo's share when the market opens on Monday, I don't think the shares will get battered too roughly, although there will be volatility. Microsoft's withdrawing of its offer isn't good news to many, but speculation on what Yahoo may have up its sleeve might keep the stock from slipping too far. It's possible that Yahoo overplayed its hand, but it's also possible that Yahoo may have had other plans, yet to be revealed. The plans could involve Google, or private equity, or even something far-fetched like Oracle. And in the end, nothing says they can't get back to negotiating with Microsoft. Only this time, they would probably keep it quiet, until a final deal is stuck. Yahoo,microsoft,google,oracle,finance Labels: business-finance, google, Microsoft, yahoo <Yahoo's Fate After Microsoft> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Yahoo Beats, Microsoft Next  As I had expected, Yahoo reported good earnings, but nothing spectacular. The stock has received a slight dent in after-hours, most likely the effect of selling into the good news. Chances are, barring any big news, it'll stay relatively flat tomorrow. The question still is whether Yahoo can maintain the earnings going forward. I believe most people don't have much faith in that. One quarter is hardly an indication of a trend. The bigger question, however, is the status of Microsoft's offer. A better indication might arrive on Thursday when Microsoft reports its own quarterly earnings. Even with Vista's slow uptake, my feeling is that it will show healthy earnings. Microsoft has a long history of under-promising and over-delivering on earnings. The weak dollar will probably help its bottom-line considerably as well. Many U.S. companies have gotten a boost from the weak dollar, offsetting their weaker domestic intake with higher overseas revenues. While many believe that Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo is inevitable, there is still plenty of twists and turns left in this saga, including piercing the defenses of some heavy-weights such as Google, News Corp., and Time Warner, who would want to see this takeover derailed. microsoft,yahoo,google,earnings,weak dollar,vista Labels: financial, google, Microsoft, yahoo <Yahoo Beats, Microsoft Next> // posted by rh 0 comments Monday, April 21, 2008 Yahoo's Earnings  Yahoo is slated to report its earning tomorrow after the market close. If it can pull off what Google did last week, the stock should rise to about $35. Then again, that was Google and there was plenty of pent-up demand from buyers. The stock had been pounded so bad that there was nowhere for it to go but up. The good earnings news only gave it the additional momentum it needed to explode way up. Yahoo's stock probably won't see a 20% rise on Wednesday no matter how good its earnings. Given Yahoo's snobby attitude towards Microsoft's advances, one has to surmise that it's feeling pretty comfortable with its earnings. A good report will validate its position in resisting Microsoft and holding out for a higher offer while giving it much bigger bargaining power. On the flip side, if the earnings are dowdy, little doubt will remain that Microsoft would prevail in its takeover efforts. It's ironic, but I'm sure Google is rooting for Yahoo to report stellar earnings and fend off Microsoft. I've already seen Yahoo ads on Google's network and Yahoo is probably getting a good deal on these. If early indications have any value, my bet is on Yahoo reporting decent earnings. If nothing, that would be another signal of strength in the Internet market. Of course, if I were so sure, I would have picked up a few call options myself, which I haven't. The May 08, $30 call strikes saw plenty of activity today. No doubt, more of the same tomorrow. Then again a lot of it could be from traders protecting short stock positions. stocks,options,yahoo,google,microsoft,earnings Labels: business-finance, google, Microsoft, yahoo <Yahoo's Earnings> // posted by rh 0 comments Sunday, February 03, 2008 Microsoft + Yahoo > Google?  For those of us who might have thought that Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo was an ace in the hole, this blog post from a Google bigwig might give a pause. Could Google be joining the likes of IBM, SUN, RealNetworks, Borland, Novell and Netscape who've lodged anti-trust complaints in various regulatory bodies around the world against Microsoft? Alright, no tears for Microsoft here. We all know this company is predatory and brutal when it wants to subjugate competitors. But can Google with a 75% share in their market (online search) really have a valid complaint here? Apparently so, and I'm actually surprised that Google has even addressed this acquisition rather than giving its characteristic aloof response. With Google's market value markedly below its 52-week high and facing slowdown or saturation in some of its markets, I can understand why the giant is suddenly feeling worried about its prospects. Can this acquisition finally give Microsoft the needed ammunition to meaningfully challenge Google? Only time will tell, but the fact that Google is feeling uneasy about it promises some interesting jousting and parrying ahead. Whatever the case, I hope Google doesn't lose its grip and mire itself in a long battle with Microsoft. Instead it should just stick to its guns, do no evil, and continue to innovate around Microsoft. In the end Google may still get run over by the behemoth, but I really hope Microsoft doesn't win this match, with or without yahoo. It will be a dark day on the Internet if Microsoft strips Google of its status just by its monopolistic tactics. google,microsoft,yahoo,search engines,anti-trust,acquisition,hostile takeover Labels: business-finance, google, Microsoft, web, yahoo <Microsoft + Yahoo > Google?> // posted by rh 0 comments Saturday, February 02, 2008 Face Cream Gimmick  Microsoft's $45 billion offer to buy Yahoo has certainly intensified the online advertising scrutiny. No doubt the entire advertising industry is going through turbulent times. At $20 billion per year, online advertising is still a small fraction of the entire advertising market, but that figure is estimated to rise sharply as more people turn to the Internet for their news, entertainment, and other personal and business matters. Indeed the cyberspace is no more immune to false advertising than other traditional methods. There are plenty of these online gimmicks around, many appearing on even reputable sites. From cars, to mortgages, to medical and beauty products, they make claims that are nothing short of miracles. And I suppose they sell well, because they seem to be everywhere. For example, this is a before and after shot of a woman's face on an ad banner touting some miracle cream to recapture youth. I keep seeing this over and over on msnbc.com. Is this an instance of false advertising? You decide. face cream,online advertising,banners,yahoo,microsoft Labels: advertising, health, Microsoft, web, yahoo <Face Cream Gimmick> // posted by rh 3 comments Monday, December 11, 2006 Gmail Mail Fetcher  A colleague of mine sent me a note today regarding a new addition to Gmail, Google's free email account. It's called mail fetcher and it allows a person to import mail from other email accounts using the POP protocol. It's a trivial feature which other services such as Yahoo and Hotmail have had for years, but it gives Gmail another advantage to attract new users who might have needed that excuse to join, while holding on to their current base of users who might have defected to other services if Gmail didn't have this feature. Not all users have this option yet (including myself), but I assume it will be rolled out to all Gmail users soon. This is indeed a convenient service for those who have multiple accounts and would like to have all their emails flow into one inbox. The catch is that those external accounts would need to provide the POP service for this to work and not all services do. This is specially true of other free services like Yahoo and Hotmail who block POP access as some users might opt to import their emails elsewhere and that would mean fewer page views (thus fewer banner views) on their respective sites. Ironically in a show of goodwill, Gmail has provided its users with a POP download service to allow them to view their emails from other locations. If all services provided a two-sided POP access, it will be up to the users to choose the service that best suits them for viewing their messages. That would mean that the site with the superior interface and features would claim a bigger slice of the much coveted eyeballs. Personally, I don’t have a need for a POP service. I converted to Gmail years ago when they blew away the competition with their giant 2 Gigabyte storage, and I have been a faithful user ever since. What concerns me however is the old adage of putting all my eggs in one basket. And this is a free basket with no guarantees. What would happen if Gmail suddenly decided to cut off my access? Of course they wouldn't just block access to their users willy-nilly, but suppose they decided to pull the plug on some of their users for whatever reason? Perhaps you unknowingly violate an obscure term of service; off with your head. What would be the recourse? Who can you complain to? How or where would you defend your case? You can write to Gmail support, but who knows if they will answer, or how long it will take before they restore your service, if ever? It's a free service after all, and I suppose they have every right to terminate whoever for whatever reason. Meanwhile all your incoming emails, all your existing emails, all your calendar appointments, and all your contact lists will be out of reach. What would happen to your business, that solely relied on Gmail for customer contacts, now that your access has been cut off? I wonder if people ever consider the downside of this arrangement. It's easy to forget that when the service has been working flawlessly for years. I do wonder about that sometimes. When I enter my account and password and wait for the screen to reload, I wonder if this will be the time when I will be greeted with the message: Sorry, your account has been disabled. For more information about Google Accounts, please consult our Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/accounts/. gmail,mail fetcher,google,pop,yahoo,hotmail,email Labels: email, gmail, google, yahoo <Gmail Mail Fetcher> // posted by rh 0 comments

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