Yahoo Shares Jump

Those of you watching those big search engine stock market deals, take a look at this latest development regarding Yahoo.

Microsoft Corp. chief Steve Ballmer signaled his openness to a deal with Yahoo Inc., sending Yahoo shares up as much as 15% on investor hopes that Microsoft's failed acquisition for the Internet search company might rematerialize.

After the comments touched off a surge in Yahoo shares, Microsoft tried to downplay its chief executive's remarks. "Our position hasn't changed," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement. "Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo. There are no discussions between the companies."

Mr. Ballmer, speaking at a technology conference in Orlando on Thursday, said a deal with Yahoo "would make sense economically." It wasn't clear whether Mr. Ballmer was referring to a hypothetical acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft or a more narrow agreement to acquire the company's search business.

Mr. Ballmer also cautioned in his speech that Microsoft, of Redmond, Wash., wasn't in any discussions with Yahoo about a deal and that Yahoo wished to remain independent.

A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment.

Yahoo shares gave up some of their early gains but were changing hands up 11%, or $1.31, at $13.06 in late afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Microsoft earlier this year abandoned an unsolicited bid of $33-a-share to acquire its Internet rival. Yahoo's board rejected the offer, worth nearly $50 billion, as inadequate. Since then Yahoo shares have fallen to almost a third of Microsoft's offer price.

Google & Yahoo In Talks with DOJ

Google and Yahoo are still working out their deal.

According to BizJournals...

Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. are talking with the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of protecting their proposed advertising agreement, according to a report Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) are still in early stages of negotiations with the DOJ.

Antitrust concerns have been raised about the proposed deal by advertising groups who say Google would gain too much of the online advertising space.

The Journal reported that both companies have talked about some concessions to allay concerns, including a cap on the volume of Google ads used by Yahoo.

In October the companies delayed their proposed deal in the face of heavy opposition from advertising groups in the U.S. and beyond.

At the time Yahoo said in a statement that the two companies "have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement."

Google added, "As we are still in conversation with the Department of Justice we have agreed to a brief delay in implementing the agreement while those discussions continue."

I like watching these big internet corporations do their thing in the modern business world.

Intel Shares Hit 5 Year Low

Reading BusinessWeek today, I came across this...

Shares of Intel Corp., the world's largest computer chip maker, fell along with the broader market Monday to hit their lowest price in five years.

The stock, which is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 59 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $16.72 in early afternoon trading. Earlier, the stock hit $16.61, its lowest level since 2003.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's shares are down about 37 percent since the start of the year, a bigger drop than the Dow Jones industrials, which are down about 25.5 percent year-to-date.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 500 points to below 10,000 for the first time in four years amid credit fears.

While Intel is generally considered a relatively safe bet amid the economic turmoil -- it is by far the world's largest computer chip maker -- it is not immune to a downturn and it stock price has declined amid fears that declining PC demand will mean lower demand for its semiconductors.

Ebay Cutting 10% Workforce

We are always following the latest layoffs regarding Internet web sites. Many of us work from home, many of us make our income via online auctions, so this is important news. According to the NY Times...

The Internet company, eBay, announced Monday that it was laying off 10 percent of its work force, or about 1,000 permanent employees and several hundred temporary workers.

The announcement was largely unrelated to the potential economic impact of a slowdown in ecommerce. Rather, it represented an attempt by eBay to improve the performance of its core marketplace division, which has experienced declining, single-digit growth in the last few years while the rest of e-commerce grows at a double-digit clip. The company said it would take a pretax restructuring charge of $70 million to $80 million, largely in the fourth quarter.

“While never an easy decision to make, these reductions will help improve our operations and strengthen our ability to continue investing in growth,” John J. Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, said in a statement.

The company also announced on Monday that it was acquiring Bill Me Later, an online payments firm based in Timonium, Md., for $945 million in cash and stock. eBay will combine the company, which enables payments online for companies like Wal-Mart Stores and Continental Airlines, with its rapidly growing PayPal division.

“We are making aggressive moves to strengthen our leadership positions in e-commerce and payments to competitively position our company for long-term growth,” Mr. Donahoe said. “Bill Me Later is a perfect complement to our portfolio, a company that belongs with PayPal. Together, PayPal and Bill Me Later will make online payments safer, easier and more convenient than ever.”

Keeping internet payments safe should be the first priority.

Today's investment tip: Right now, due to the war in Iraq, and the current financial crisis, invest your money in gold ;)

Apple Stocks & Citizen Journalism

Reading a little about Steve Job's health scare, Apple stocks, and citizen journalism.

CNN's plunge into online citizen- journalism backfired yesterday when the cable-news outlet posted what turned out to be a bogus report claiming that Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack.

Apple shares fell as much as 5.4 percent after the post on CNN's iReport.com and rebounded after the Cupertino, California- based company said the story was false. Atlanta-based CNN, owned by Time Warner Inc., disabled the user's account and said it tried unsuccessfully to contact the individual.

The event underscores the need for news organizations to verify content generated by users before it is published, William Grueskin, dean of academic affairs at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, said in an interview from New York. CNN competitors Fox and MSNBC also have added interactive features to stretch resources and follow their audience to the Web.

I guess it can have it's ups and downs... as Bloomberg reports...

``It can be a very powerful influence when harnessed the right way, but sometimes it goes awry as it clearly did in this case,'' Grueskin said. ``News organizations are really getting squeezed and so it's incumbent on them to be looking for ways to engage citizens in the process.''

The Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement unit is trying to determine whether the posting was intended to push down Apple's stock price. CNN is cooperating with the probe, Jennifer Martin, a spokeswoman for the network, said in a telephone interview. She declined to say whether CNN provided the user's IP address to the SEC.

The ability to publish unconfirmed material on the Internet can have a far-reaching impact.

In June, Yahoo! Inc. shares surged after a technology blog said acquisition talks with Microsoft had resumed. The report was later contradicted by CNBC and the shares gave back most of the 11 percent gain.

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