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Millennials Prompt Angie’s List To Tear Down Paywalls, Go Free: CEO

Online reviews site Angie’s List ( ANGI ) said Thursday that it will drop its current membership model this year and replace it with free access to its business ratings and reviews as part of a tiered subscription plan. The company promised changes last fall after it turned down a $512 million acquisition offer  from IAC/InterActiveCorp ( IAC ) subsidiary HomeAdvisor. Angie’s List is trying to grow its presence in the $400 billion home services market. Indianapolis-based Angie’s List has struggled with competition from rivals including Yelp ( YELP ), search engines such as  Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google and others. The company announced changes and 2016 year guidance at its annual analyst meeting Thursday in New York. Angie’s List stock was up nearly 4% in afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 9. Angie’s List stock is up 28% in the past 12 months but down nearly 70% from its all-time high of 28.32, brushed in July 2013. “The new plan announced today transforms our legacy business model to bring in a new era of growth and profitability,” Angie’s List CEO Scott Durchslag said in a statement. “By removing the paywall for ratings and reviews, our new profitable-growth plan removes the barrier that has limited our growth and enables Angie’s List to engage with more consumers and more service providers than ever before.” He said, “We expect to reignite revenue growth and drive significant increases in profitability over time with minimal disruption to the business.” The new tiers — to launch this summer — include a free option where users can research ratings of local businesses, read reviews and see display advertising. Premium silver ($24.99) and gold ($99.99) annual subscriptions include options such as an emergency service hotline and fair price guarantees. “The reviews paywall served the company well for the last 20 years, but looking ahead to the next 20 years — millennials are not going to pay for reviews,” Durchslag told USA TODAY on Thursday. Angie’s List guided 2016 revenue at $345 million to $355 million, up 0.25%-3.00% year over year. That’s short of the $361.5 million analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had modeled. “There will be some trade-off in terms of consumers that will want to just get things for free as opposed to paying a subscription,” says Durchslag. “There will be others that want the new set of offers we’re launching.”    

Yahoo Prepping To Auction Off Its Core Internet Business: Report

Yahoo ( YHOO ) is about to hold a traditional auction for its core Internet search business and has begun sending nondisclosure agreements to prospective bidders, according to a media report. Rather than talking with buyers individually, “Yahoo is holding a traditional auction for the sale with formal bids,” according to an item carried by CTFN late Wednesday. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is under intensified pressure from major investor Starboard Value, which has urged the exit of Mayer and some directors, as well as the spinoff of Yahoo’s core search business. Yahoo directors are close to offering at least two board seats to the activist hedge fund in order to avert a proxy fight, according to a report on Friday in the New York Post. Analysts say Yahoo is poised to lose more ad dollars to Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google and high-profile startups such as Snapchat and Pinterest. On Monday, Yahoo said that it may have to write down the goodwill value of Tumblr , more than two years after the Web pioneer spent $1.1 billion to buy the microblogging site. Bloomberg reported last week that Yahoo was preparing to meet with potential suitors. Among the companies rumored to be interested in Yahoo are Comcast ( CMCSA ), Verizon Communications ( VZ ),  AT&T ( T ) and Time ( TIME ). Rumors re-emerged this week that e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) might buy back a valuable stake that Yahoo now holds in the Chinese company. Yahoo’s Asian assets — comprised of its Alibaba holdings and a 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan — represent the vast majority of Yahoo’s $3.8 billion market value. Yahoo owns a 15% stake in Alibaba, or about 384 million shares. But some observers say such a transaction is unlikely because of high tax implications for Alibaba. On Monday, Alibaba senior executives Jack Ma and Joe Tsai said they will spend a combined $500 million to buy company stock. It will be part of a $4 billion stock-buyback plan that Alibaba announced in August. Alibaba’s recent financial moves have some investors wondering if the Chinese conglomerate is ready to make a play for Yahoo , according to a report in Variety. Yahoo stock was down 0.5% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 32.75. Yahoo stock had risen in 11 of the previous 12 trading days, gaining 25% since early February, amid the buyout expectations. But shares still are down 25% over the past 12 months.

Apple iPhone Socked As Smartphone Market Hits The Brakes

Smartphone shipment growth is projected to drop into the single digits worldwide this year, led by China’s transition from developing to mature market, research firm IDC said Wednesday. Apple ’s ( AAPL ) iPhone is likely to be much harder-hit than handsets using Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Android operating system, IDC said. It sees iPhone shipments declining 0.1% in 2016, while Android phone shipments rise 7.6%. IDC predicts that total smartphone shipments will rise 5.7% to 1.5 billion units in 2016. Last year, smartphone shipments rose 10.4% to 1.44 billion units. IDC forecasts that Android smartphones will make up 82.6% of shipments in 2016, with 1.25 billion units. It projects Android smartphone shipments will grow at a five-year compound annual rate of 6.9% and reach 84.6% market share in 2020. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone will account for 15.2% of smartphone shipments in 2016, with 231 million units, IDC said. The research firm estimates that iPhone shipments will grow at a five-year compound annual rate of 3% and slip to 14% market share by 2020. Overall smartphone shipments are seen hitting 1.92 billion units in 2020, with volumes continuing to shift to lower-cost handsets. The average selling price for a smartphone is forecast to drop to $237 in 2020 from $295 in 2015, IDC said. Mature markets like the U.S., Western Europe and China all hit single-digit growth in smartphones in 2015, while high-growth emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa, and other pockets of Southeast Asia all remained healthy. “The mature market slowdown has some grave consequences for Apple, as well as the high-end Android space, as these were the markets that absorbed the majority of the premium handsets that shipped over the past five years,” IDC analyst Ryan Reith said in a statement. “I believe Apple’s move into the trade-in business with its ‘Trade Up with Installments’ program is aimed at further increasing churn in some of its most lucrative markets despite the high penetration rates. By entering this space, Apple can more tightly control the trade-in offerings, as well as monitor the demand for where these perfectly functioning one-year old iPhones end up. The latter is just as important as the trade-in location, as it will give Apple a strong pulse on areas of high demand but perhaps less disposable income.” Large-screen smartphones, or phablets, continue to be a growth segment of the market. Phablets accounted for 20% of smartphone volumes in 2015 and are forecast to reach 32% of shipment volumes in 2020, IDC said. Apple’s iPhone sales to end users fell for the first time ever in the fourth quarter, research firm Gartner reported last month . Apple has projected that its iPhone sales into the sales channel will drop on a year-over-year basis for the first time this quarter. Image provided by Shutterstock . RELATED:  Apple Working On Dual-Camera iPhone 7 Plus Smartphone: Analyst .