We are all well aware of the news and rumours surrounding Yahoo, news of the rejection of Microsoft’s bid was expected as Yahoo look for a more money per share. In a letter outlining why it had spurned the offer, Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang said that the firm was in a position to take advantage of ‘a huge market opportunity’. “Today, Yahoo is a faster-moving, better-organized, more nimble company than it was just a few months ago”. This to me doesn’t seem to be ringing true, with all the bad press and around 1000 job lay offs occurring within the company. There only seems to one way they are moving, that’s backwards.

Maybe this isn’t an effect of the recent news, however, I have noticed this week throughout the Yahoo accounts that I manage, that traffic across the board is down, any press is good press so they say, but in this case it is definitely not true. A lot of these users will be turning to Google for search.
There are other whispers about various ploys that Yahoo could attempt in order to stay alive in the paid search industry. The latest one to surface is a 20% share buyout by News Corp which is owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp’s media interests include Dow Jones (which publishes the Wall Street Journal), Fox News, The Sun, The Times as well as My Space and a 39% stake in BSkyB. This would create an interesting situation should the bid be accepted, My Space has a long standing relationship with a big search rival of Yahoo’s, you’ve guessed it……….Google!
The main advantage to Yahoo of this bid is that it would the company to remain independent. Time will tell in which direction they decide to go, but for me the Yahoo party seems to be well and truly over.

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