Yahoo to be named Altaba, Mayer to leave board after Verizon deal

Yahoo Inc said Monday that it would rename itself Altaba Inc and Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer would step down from the board after the closing of its deal with Verizon Communications Inc.

Yahoo has a deal to sell its core internet business, which includes its digital advertising, email and media assets, to Verizon for $4.83 billion.

The terms of that deal could be amended - or the transaction may even be called off - after Yahoo last year disclosed two separate data breaches; one involving some 500 million customer accounts and the second involving over a billion.

Verizon executives have said that while they see a strong strategic fit with Yahoo, they are still investigating the data breaches.

Five other Yahoo directors would also resign after the deal closes, Yahoo said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

The remaining directors will govern Altaba, a holding company whose primary assets will be a 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.

The new company also named Eric Brandt chairman of the board, effective Jan. 9.

source: interaksyon.com

Yahoo extends deadline for opening bids: report

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Yahoo has given prospective buyers an added week to make preliminary bids for the company’s core assets, tech news website Re/Code reported on Friday.

The struggling Internet pioneer has been briefing prospective buyers, according to US media reports that indicated the list of suitors included telecommunications titan Verizon, Google-parent Alphabet, and Time Inc.

The deadline for initial offers was reportedly extended from Monday to April 18, a day before California-based Yahoo releases earnings figures for the first three months of this year.

Re/Code attributed the information to unnamed sources close to the situation and “blabby bankers they talk to.”

Yahoo declined to comment on the report.

In letters to potential suitors, the troubled Internet company asked them what assets they were interested in, how they would finance such acquisitions and what terms would have to be met on their end, the Wall Street Journal reported last month, quoting people familiar with the matter.

The paper said some buyers might be interested in Yahoo’s core web business or parts of it, while others might bid for stakes in Alibaba or Yahoo Japan.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who took over in 2012 with the mission of boosting growth, is in an increasingly difficult position.

Although Yahoo is one of the best-known names on the Internet and is used by around one billion people, it has fallen behind Google in Internet searches and has been steadily losing ground in online advertising.

Ironically, Mayer joined Yahoo as chief executive from Google a result of a proxy war launched by an activist investor group.

While Mayer has injected some energy and glamor into the company, Yahoo’s finances have failed to improve and its core operations are valued in the market as worthless, with the company’s valuation propped up by its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.

In February, Yahoo said it was cutting 15 percent of its workforce and narrowing its focus as it explores “strategic alternatives.”

The California company reported a loss of $4.43 billion in the final three months of last year, due mostly to lowering the value of its US, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Tumblr units.

source: interaksyon.com

Yahoo buys web-browsing startup Rocketmelt

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo on Friday said it bought social web-browsing startup Rockmelt, extending a buying spree started shortly after Marissa Mayer became chief last year.

Yahoo did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but technology news website AllThingsD valued the purchase at between $60 million and $70 million.

"The team has built a simple and beautiful technology that combines social, personalization and discovery to help you not only find what you're looking for, but also stumble across some cool stuff along the way," Yahoo senior vice president of mobile Adam Cahan said in a blog post.

Rockmelt launched in 2010 with Internet browsing software imbued with social features, such as sharing at Facebook or Twitter.

Buying Rockmelt was seen as a talent acquisition, with Yahoo weaving the startup's technology into its own products.

"The parallels between Yahoo and Rockmelt are obvious," Cahan said in the blog post.

"We can't wait to integrate the Rockmelt technology into our platform."

The Rockmelt buy comes just days after Yahoo snapped up a company specializing in software applications that help small businesses attract and service customers.

It also raises to 21 the total number of acquisitions made by Yahoo since Mayer took the helm a year ago with a mission to revive the withering Internet pioneer.

Yahoo's growing list of acquisitions includes Qwiki, a New York operation behind an application that converts video and pictures on iPhones into sharable movie clips complete with music soundtracks.

Yahoo has also bought Xobni, a startup behind tools for better managing contact lists and email inboxes, and Bignoggins Productions, a one-person operation specializing in fantasy sports applications for iPhones.

Yahoo in June completed a billion-dollar deal taking over the popular blogging platform Tumblr, a move aimed at bringing more youthful users into the company's orbit.

Since former Google executive Mayer became chief at Yahoo, the company has snapped up an array of startups including GhostBird, Alike, Stamped, Snip.it, and a Summly application built by a British teen.

Mayer's plan for reviving Yahoo's fortunes includes making priorities of mobile devices, video, personalized digital content, and elevating the company's popularity outside the United States.

source: interaksyon.com

Yahoo! to shut down seven products, including Blackberry app

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo! Inc is shutting down seven products, including its mobile app for Blackberry smartphones, as new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer takes a page from Google Inc’s play book by eliminating unsuccessful products en-masse.

The product shutdowns, which Yahoo! announced on its official company blog on Friday, are part of what the company said are regular efforts to evaluate and review its product line-up.

“The most critical question we ask is whether the experience is truly a daily habit that still resonates for all of you today,” wrote Jay Rossiter, Yahoo!’s executive vice president of Platforms.

The announcement represents Yahoo!’s second group shutdown of products since Mayer, a former Google executive, became CEO of the struggling Web portal in July. So-called “spring cleaning” announcements, in which multiple products are shut down, have become a regular feature at Google in recent years.

Mayer signaled the company would prune its line-up of mobile apps at an investor conference last month, noting that Yahoo! would reduce the 60 to 75 disparate mobile apps it currently has to a more manageable 12 to 15 apps.

Yahoo! said its app for Blackberry smartphones would no longer be available for download, or supported by Yahoo!, as of April 1.

Yahoo! also said that on April 1 it will stop supporting Yahoo! Avatars – the cartoon-like digital characters that consumers create to depict them on Web services such as Yahoo instant messenger and Facebook. Consumers who want to continue using their avatar on Yahoo!’s online services must download the avatar and then re-upload the information to their personalized Yahoo! profile.

The other Yahoo! products set to be terminated include Yahoo! App Search, Yahoo! Sports IQ, Yahoo! Clues, the Yahoo! Message Boards website and the Yahoo! Updates API.

source: interaksyon.com