2008 February

Microsoft and Yahoo Combine Forces to Stop Google

I know everyone and their dog is covering the Microsoft and Yahoo story right now but this could be the biggest story since the AOL and Time Warner merger. Every major/minor news portal and blog are reporting that Microsoft has offered Yahoo $44.6 Billion to acquire Yahoo.

Combining the 2 entities could give them a combined search market share of over 30% and not to mention the largest share of any website property in the world. Below are the news items you need to check out regarding Microsoft and Yahoo:

CNN: 4th UPDATE: Microsoft Offers To Buy Yahoo For $44.6 Billion
New York Times: Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo
Market Watch: Microsoft offers $31-share, $44.6 billion, for Yahoo
Associated Press: Stocks Rise on Microsoft Bid for Yahoo
Computer World: Microsoft-Yahoo deal: The only way to save Microsoft Live
Search Engine Land: MSFT + YHOO: What Would Microsoft Yahoo Look Like?
Techcrunch: WOW. Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion To Acquire Yahoo
Engadget: Microsoft offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo
Marketing Pilgrim: Microsoft Pownces on Yahoo’s Weak Q4, Makes $44.6B Offer
SEOBook: What a Microsoft Acquisition of Yahoo Means to Webmasters & Web Publishing Business Models

“I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft’s closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash.” Steve Balmer to Yahoo Board

New Hitwise Desktop Widget

Yesterday Hitwise announced the release of a new Hitwise widget that allows online data enthusiasts to access three different Hitwise RSS feeds directly from their desktops.

The three feeds featured in the Hitwise widget deliver the following data and insights:

Hitwise To Go – features weekly online user behavior stats such as top performing websites and the most searched-for brands.
Hitwise Intelligence Blogs – provides deep analyses of online behavior.
Election 2008 Data Center – delivers the latest Hitwise trends on the presidential candidates’ websites and search terms related politics.

“The updated Hitwise Widget makes our data even more portable and accessible to marketers and anyone interested in keeping up with the latest online trends.” said Tessa Court, chief marketing officer for Hitwise.

Data from the Hitwise widget is based on Hitwise’s unprecedented sample of 25 million Internet users (10M in the U.S.) and how they search and interact with more than 1 million websites each day.

The Hitwise widget is available in the Yahoo! Widget platform on the Hitwise Widget Center. A Google Gadget platform will be available soon. Other market Hitwise Widgets can be downloaded at: