Posted on 12/02/2015 2:02:20 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
Big changes may be coming for Yahoo as the company's board meets and reportedly considers a plan to sell the company's core business — the search and advertising sections of the 20-year-old company that have struggled to compete with Google and Facebook.
The radical proposal, however, is being precipitated by a relatively mundane financial issue -- taxes.
With Yahoo struggling to keep up with rivals, its Web business -- e-mail, search, social platforms and news sites -- have tumbled in value. Right now, the company has a total market value of $34 billion. But much of that is because it owns nearly 400 million shares -- or 15 percent -- of the fast-growing Chinese Web retailer Alibaba. When the Chinese retailer went public last year, the value of Yahoo’s stake ballooned to more than $30 billion, eclipsing its core Internet search and advertising business.
Investors, frustrated by the company's middling performance, have been pressuring Yahoo's management to find a way to separate its investment in Alibaba from its sinking search business.
But settling on a plan to do that has been difficult. Simply selling its shares in Alibaba would mean paying capital gains taxes, which could run in the billions, tax experts said. So in January, the tech giant announced it would spin off its Alibaba stake into a new company. But, as it turns out, that could leave it with a hefty tax bill too.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Also FTA....
Today, it is still well behind its rivals. In October, comScore reported Yahoo had a 12.6. percent share of the desktop search market, placing it behind Google’s 63.9 percent and Microsoft’s 20.7 percent for Bing.
TAKE THE $32 BILLION!
If someone is stupid enough to pay that much for it
It is feeling more and more like the new AOL.
Bye bye..?
I think so.
Also FTA....
So is an acquisition in Yahoo’s best interest? “The big question is whether anyone would actually show up with a meaningful bid,” Wieser wrote.
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So. Even if the Board decided to cut their losses and sell out - who would buy?
Melissa Mayer’s assignment was to leave Google and kill Yahoo.
She’s done her job.
More from the WSJ....
http://www.wsj.com/articles/bidders-emerge-for-yahoos-internet-business-1449083139
Yahoo has reported dissidents to the Chinese government, getting them either killed or imprisoned. Sorry if I don’t shed a tear for Yahoo.
Their email never has had an effective spam filter. Yahoo mail sucks as a consequence.
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