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Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang
Yahoo stock trading for $17.81 Thursday morning

It seems that Yahoo thought its stock had hit rock bottom in June of 2008 when it was trading at $23.52 per share. This price was reached after Microsoft walked away from its talk with Yahoo of a buyout.

CNET News reports that Yahoo's stock has now dropped to a new 52-week low with the stock trading Thursday morning at $17.81 per share. The low stock price makes Microsoft's offer of $31 per share for Yahoo stock in February 2008 seem like a gift of the biggest kind.

With Microsoft totally out of the picture and enjoying its "independence", Wall Street is wondering if there is anything in the future that could pull Yahoo's stock out of the current nose dive. Yahoo has the controversial deal with Google pending approval with antitrust regulators, but Wall Street expects the deal to go through unfettered.

Mark May, an analyst for Needham & Co told CNET News, "A DOJ approval would be mildly positive for the stock. It has a greater than 50 percent chance of being approved, so it's already baked into the current stock price."

That means final approvals for the Yahoo/Google advertising deal would do little for the current stock price. Yahoo's third quarter closes in September and analysts expect little to come along to help the ailing search firm.

Yahoo does have another glimmer of hope in the future that could help its stock prices -- its advertising management platform (AMP). Cantor Fitzgerald's Derek Brown said, "It's unclear what impact it [AMP] will have over time. It depends on what happens with the rest of the economy. If AMP is wildly successful and it's perceived that Yahoo is taking advertising wallet share, then that could move the stock. But the possibility that will happen in the short-term seems very low."

CNET News notes that a few other Yahoo moves could help its stock price to some extent including the sale of investment in Yahoo Japan, selling Chinese search site Alibaba, or buying back its own shares.

Steve Weinstein of Pacific Crest Securities notes, "All of these things could potentially happen. But the question is: can they execute going forward and take share in a meaningful way from Google, MSN, or anyone for that matter?"

Many will wonder where the 52-week low stock price sits with Carl Icahn. Icahn was perhaps the most vocal Yahoo stockowner to condemn Yahoo and its board for not taking the Microsoft offer. Icahn had previously vowed to end Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's days at the helm of the search firm.

Icahn rallied shareholder support to elect a new board and out Yang and Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. To quell the internal strife, Yang and Bostock cut a deal with Icahn that would give Icahn a seat on Yahoo's board of directors and expand the board by two members with nominees from Icahn in the running for the slots.

Ironically, the deal given to Icahn by Yang and Bostock came after Yahoo executives lashed out saying that Yahoo would not be bludgeoned by Microsoft and Icahn.

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Raise your hands if
By ChronoReverse on 9/4/2008 2:34:20 PM , Rating: 5
you're not surprised by this at all.

I can't understand what the Yahoo execs were thinking assuming they were actually doing what they were supposed to be doing.




RE: Raise your hands if
By FaceMaster on 9/4/08, Rating: -1
RE: Raise your hands if
By Ringold on 9/4/2008 3:18:44 PM , Rating: 5
The whole Dow was down 320 a minute ago, S&P 33, but even still, a look at a chart reveals YHOO's collapse has been steady. Today's market just pushed it along a wee bit.

I love seeing this, I really do. When a company makes such a big mistake, I think my inner barbarian comes out, and I'm not fully satisfied until heads are on sticks. Any fanboys that bought the stock up in the 20s have just had their retirement plans pushed back, and I can't imagine Yang being allowed to survive for too long.


RE: Raise your hands if
By daftrok on 9/4/2008 4:21:50 PM , Rating: 1
Simply put, you can't compete with all this:
http://www.google.com/options/

You can try (and they did) but you won't get very far.


RE: Raise your hands if
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 9/4/2008 4:55:50 PM , Rating: 2
Yahoo = Titanic


RE: Raise your hands if
By sprockkets on 9/4/2008 7:21:47 PM , Rating: 5
"Better to die standing than to live on your knees."


RE: Raise your hands if
By jtemplin on 9/4/2008 7:59:21 PM , Rating: 3
Es mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas.


RE: Raise your hands if
By silversound on 9/4/2008 7:05:39 PM , Rating: 1
Most of the stocks now are in their 52 week lowest point, why always pick on yahoo?
I can see yahoo is only getting weak in the US, outside US still very strong...


RE: Raise your hands if
By someguy123 on 9/5/2008 12:01:47 AM , Rating: 3
because they could have had $31 per share, but they demanded ridiculous severance packages AND i think it was $38 per share.

it's always fun to see someone get offered an amazing deal, only to get (in this case) INSANELY greedy and then have their company's value slowly plummet into oblivion. nothing is quite as satisfying to your inner sadist than to see someones greed screw them over.


RE: Raise your hands if
By JustTom on 9/5/2008 12:09:23 PM , Rating: 3
Most stocks are at 52 week lows? More than half? Really...


Yahoo's management was just plain irresponsible
By Delegator on 9/4/2008 3:14:25 PM , Rating: 5
Hey, I understand not wanting to be acquired by a competitor -- I went through it myself at one point. But, Yahoo! management was simply irresponsible in rejecting the Microsoft offer. Yahoo! offers nothing that others don't do as well or better, and they don't have a business model that has a hint of delivering sustainable growth.

They had their shot at cashing out big, and they blew it for their shareholders and for their employees.




By zpdixon on 9/4/2008 4:04:10 PM , Rating: 1
quote:

Yahoo! offers nothing that others don't do as well or better

This is not true. Most analysts agree that Yahoo's Internet business is in a better shape than Microsoft's. For example MS's search business is a distant number 3, behind Google and Yahoo.


By SanLC504 on 9/4/2008 5:11:36 PM , Rating: 2
The only problem with that logic is, have you ever used Yahoo's Operating System? Or Yahoo-branded computer hardware? Or the Yahoo Y-Box 360? Microsoft is simply much more diversified than Yahoo.


By mindless1 on 9/4/2008 11:09:48 PM , Rating: 2
That has nothing to do with the topic though. We could say many large companies, even those smaller than Yahoo are more diversified and that too wouldn't be relevant.


By Regs on 9/5/2008 8:52:00 AM , Rating: 2
What do you mean small businesses?

I figure the main benefit of being diversified is if one product tanks, you can cut back production or resources and concentrate on the one product that is selling. This brings profit or sustainability which makes stock holders happy.

I don't see your argument very clear.


By mikefarinha on 9/5/2008 12:05:09 AM , Rating: 4
The trend is more important.

I'm assuming here, but I believe that MS Search is on the rise while Yahoo's search is on the decline, that is more important to stock prices than who is better than who at any given point in time.

I still contend that the only reason MS wanted Yahoo! was to get them out of the way... Yahoo! is like a slow road hog in the fast lane, Microsoft is unable to get around them because they are so entrenched.

MS can wait it out to pass them, or buy them and take them off the road... or what looks like an ever increasing option, stir the pot to make them implode.


By Delegator on 9/5/2008 11:24:56 AM , Rating: 2
I didn't say that Yahoo! offers nothing that Microsoft doesn't do as well or better, but that others don't do as well or better. Those others include Google, social networking sites, shopping sites, and so on.

Many internet companies are collections of "stuff": search, shopping, mail, news, and so on. If you don't have a differentiator -- something you do flat out better than everybody else -- then you don't have a viable business. Google simply owns search. Microsoft owns the desktop. Amazon owns (to some extent) shopping. Ebay owns auctions. What's Yahoo's niche? What's its differentiator? Why should its stock price do anything but fall?


Now their name makes perfect sense.
By mikefarinha on 9/4/2008 2:50:56 PM , Rating: 1
So tell me again Yahoo! fanboys... why is Yahoo!'s stock worth $40?

In all seriousness, with the right vision and leadership Yahoo! could rebuild it's self into something formitable. However with Yang at the helm it's going to be a long ride down a short slide.

Yahoo! has little near-term positive's and zero long-term positives. I can't see a future where Yahoo!'s stock will ever reach the $31/share asking price of Microsoft let alone the $40/share they were asking for. In fact, I can't see their stock going anywhere but down at this juncture.

They really need an ace up their sleeve or some M$ knee pads to do some serious M$ groveling.




RE: Now their name makes perfect sense.
By whiskerwill on 9/4/2008 3:53:47 PM , Rating: 5
There's no such thing as a "Yahoo fanboy". Except for the executive board that is.


RE: Now their name makes perfect sense.
By MonkeyPaw on 9/4/2008 5:26:22 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I have a Yahoo email account and participate in numerous Yahoo fantasy sports leagues, but I'm no fanboy. I do like Yahoo's news page, and their sports section is way easier to navigate than, say, ESPN's ridiculously busy website (ESPN.com alone killed dial-up). Even so, I could find replacements for all of those things on the web. I guess that's what happens when you have lots of choices, and all of them are free.