It seems the proposed buyout of Yahoo is an ongoing subject of interest in the technological world. After the rejection of Microsoft’s offer it is believed that another company had raised its head and thrown its name into the hat.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has apparently shown interest in the world’s number two search engine. As the company already owns MySpace a merger would see the combination of Yahoo’s messaging service and News Corp’s social networking site. This is surely a good avenue to head down for the failing Yahoo.
The move would see Yahoo giving twenty percent of its shares to News Corp whilst retaining their independence; a far better proposition than Microsoft’s complete buyout. The reason Yahoo are believed to have declined the Microsoft offer is due to a belief that it was an undervaluation, especially for a company that has made dramatic changes in the last few months.
A company spokesperson stated that “we (Yahoo) have redeployed our resources to drive Yahoo’s key strategic priorities.” This redeployment has involved streamlining the organisation and scaling back businesses that are not seen as a crucial element of the company’s ‘growth initiatives.’
It seems that this deal is slightly more likely to go ahead than the Microsoft deal. Microsoft had wanted to join Yahoo and make a worthy competitor for Google; but the rejection of the £20 billion offer has scuppered this opportunity. The News Corp offer on the other hand is more desirable.
With News Corp controlling the Wall St Journal, Fox News as well as The Sun and Times newspapers, Murdoch’s media empire is vast. With a thirty nine percent stake in television broadcaster BSkyB as well as the owning of MySpace, the acquisition will give Murdoch even more power over the information we receive. Surely this is not good for a free media and internet. Just as the Microsoft bid was feared by many as monopolistic, the News Corp offer may create a company with influence over every medium of information we have access to today.
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