Tag Archives: yhoo

Yahoo News Sites Attract British Tabloid Daily Mail: Report

Yahoo ( YHOO ) stock rose Monday as British tabloid newspaper Daily Mail reportedly confirmed its interest in the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Web portal, attracted to its news and media properties. The Daily Mail said that it is in preliminary talks with other investors to launch a bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, confirming a previous WSJ report out Sunday. Buying Yahoo’s media operations could help the Daily Mail establish a stronger presence in the U.S., where it launched a website in 2012, the WSJ  said. “Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily, we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders,” the WSJ said it was told by a spokesperson for DailyMail.com. Discussions are said to be at a very early stage. A bid by the Daily Mail could occur through a private equity partner acquiring all of Yahoo’s U.S. operation, according to the WSJ. After that, the Daily Mail would take over Yahoo’s news and media units, which include Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and Yahoo News, the report said. It’s also possible a private equity firm would acquire Yahoo and merge its media and news properties into a new company that would include the Daily Mail’s online properties, the report said. The Daily Mail has spoken with six private equity firms in regards to a bid, including General Atlantic, the WSJ said, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter. The Daily Mail & General Trust PLC is just one of an estimated 40 groups that have expressed interest in buying Yahoo. Yahoo sent a letter to possible buyers last month, asking them to submit bids. Some buyers might be interested in all or part of Yahoo’s core Web business, while others might want Yahoo’s stakes in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) or Yahoo Japan. Yahoo pushed back the deadline for bids to April 18 from April 11, according to media reports. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) is said to be planning to bid for Yahoo’s Web business and its holdings in Yahoo Japan, according to Bloomberg. Google, the main division of Alphabet ( GOOGL ), reportedly is considering a bid for Yahoo’s core business. Time ( TIME ); Japan’s SoftBank ( SFTBY ), the majority owner of Yahoo Japan; and several private equity firms also are kicking the tires, reports Bloomberg. Yahoo has also held meetings with IAC/InterActiveCorp. ( IAC ) and CBS Corp. ( CBS ), the WSJ said. One-time potential suitors including AT&T ( T ) and Comcast ( CMCSA ) have decided against bidding, Bloomberg reported.  Microsoft ( MSFT ), which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, also won’t bid, according to Bloomberg. Re/Code said last week that documents Yahoo provided to potential bidders predict the Web portal’s 2016 revenue will drop by close to 15% and its earnings by more than 20%. Yahoo has recently implemented layoffs and begun the process of selling itself and spinning off its hefty stake in Alibaba, and it is also in the midst of a proxy fight seeking to oust its entire board. Yahoo stock was up more than 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 36.50. Yahoo stock touched an eight-month high of 37.50 last week.

Yahoo Extends Bidding Deadline, But Will Google And Verizon Bite?

Yahoo ( YHOO ) has pushed back the deadline for bids on the company by one week, to April 18 rather than this coming Monday, according to media reports. “We’ll see who bids — and, more to the point, who gets passed through to the next round. It’s a little like the ‘Hunger Games,’ except you get to live and then have to overhaul the Silicon Valley Internet giant,” Re/Code wrote  Friday. Verizon Communications ( VZ ) is said to be planning to make a  first-round bid for Yahoo’s Web business and is also planning to bid for the company’s holdings in Yahoo Japan to help sweeten its offer, Bloomberg said. Google, the main division of Alphabet ( GOOGL ), is also reportedly considering a bid for Yahoo’s core business. One-time potential suitors including AT&T ( ATT ) and Comcast ( CMCSA ) have decided against bidding, the Bloomberg report said.  Microsoft ( MSFT ), which failed with a hostile bid for Yahoo in 2008, also won’t bid, according to the report. Time ( TIME ); Japan’s SoftBank ( SFTBY ), the majority owner of Yahoo Japan; and several private equity firms also are kicking the tires, reports Bloomberg. Verizon and its subsidiary AOL are working with at least three financial advisers on its bid, the report said. Re/Code said earlier this week that documents Yahoo provided to potential bidders predict the Web portal’s 2016 revenue will drop by close to 15% and its earnings by more than 20%. Yahoo’s inability to fully embrace the transition to mobile has meant that “usage and monetisation are moving to areas where Yahoo is unable to follow,” wrote Edison Investment Research analyst Richard Windsor in a research note Friday. Windsor said that Yahoo has been “buying traffic in order to prop up the popularity of its online properties. Effectively, Yahoo is masking the declines in its revenue by buying revenue-generating traffic from other websites and services. This means that the revenue genuinely generated by Yahoo’s properties will fall by 14% this year to $3.6 billion.” Yahoo has not commented on the reports. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect EPS ex items to fall 10% this year, to 53 cents, with revenue falling 9% to $4.52 billion. Yahoo has recently implemented layoffs and begun the process of selling itself and spinning off its hefty stake in China e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ). It’s also in the midst of a proxy fight initiated by activist investor Starboard Value seeking to oust Yahoo’s entire board and CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo’s revenue growth has stalled for nearly a decade as ad dollars continue to slip away to rivals, including Facebook ( FB ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Google and others, as well as high-profile startups Snapchat and Pinterest. Yahoo stock was down more than 1% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 36. Verizon stock was up a fraction.

‘Egregious’ Depomed Soars After Activist Starboard Targets Drugmaker

Shares of specialty drugmaker Depomed ( DEPO ) jumped Friday after an activist investor took a stake in the company and challenged the management. Starboard Value LP, which has led high-profile efforts to shake up Darden Restaurants ( DRI ) and Yahoo ( YHOO ), announced that it had acquired a 9.8% stake in Depomed and sent a scathing letter to the company’s CEO, James Schoeneck, and the board of directors. “Specifically, we have significant concerns regarding serious corporate governance deficiencies, questionable capital allocation decisions, and egregious actions taken by the board to stymie strategic interest in acquiring Depomed,” wrote Starboard member Jeffrey Smith in the letter. The last item referred to the board’s poison-pill provision adopted last year when Horizon Pharma ( HZNP ) attempted a hostile takeover, which was ultimately foiled . That seemed to be at the root of Starboard’s complaint, and Smith charged that Depomed’s board is making further moves to limit shareholder power. Smith cited a proposal to reincorporate Depomed, currently headquartered in Newark, Calif., in the state of Delaware, mentioned in the recent  notice of the annual shareholder meeting to be held May 18. “Upon further review, we identified unconventional provisions that indicate management and the board are using the reincorporation proposal as a tactic to further entrench themselves by suppressing shareholder rights that currently exist under Depomed-California,” Smith wrote. Starboard filed a Record Date Request Notice asking to call a special shareholder meeting. Depomed issued a brief response saying that the company “welcomes open communications with its shareholders” but that it hadn’t received any communication from Starboard before the letter. It urged shareholders to take no action. The moved came three days after Smith resigned as chairman of Darden Restaurants, a position he gained in 2014 after leading a similar, successful fight to replace Darden’s board. Starboard is also currently attempting to replace the board of Yahoo. Depomed stock shot up more than 12% in morning trade on the stock market today , near 17. The stock had been trading for less than half its 52-week high — 33.74 back on July 21 — an unusually big drop, even by drug stock standards. Yahoo stock rose fractionally intraday, while Darden Restaurants was little changed.