This Week's Headlines

Microsoft Can Do it Without Yahoo!: Ballmer
(Extracted from AFP, May 2, 2008) Microsoft can build a competitive online advertising business without Yahoo! but it "could just take more time," CEO Steve Ballmer told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday. The comment came as analysts and industry watchers awaited an imminent announcement on Microsoft's next move in its unresolved quest to acquire Yahoo! as part of a strategy to compete with Internet advertising king Google. Ballmer declined to say how Microsoft would react to Yahoo!'s rejection of its unsolicited 44.6-billion-dollar bid or when the company would announce a decision. "With the right circumstances it'll happen. Without the right circumstances it won't happen," Ballmer told the Journal. Ballmer told employees Thursday he would not pay "a dime above" what he thinks Yahoo! is worth and they would know the next move in the takeover quest "in very short order." "I know exactly what I think Yahoo! is worth and I won't go a dime above," Ballmer said during an in-house exchange with employees posted on the Internet.

Yahoo! Goes Full Steam Ahead with ‘Open' Strategy
(Extracted from IDG News Service, May 1, 2008) When Yahoo! announced its Yahoo! Open Strategy (Y OS) last week, it offered a vision that, if realized, could give back the company the mojo it lost several years ago. With Y OS, Yahoo! pledges to open all its sites, online services and Web applications to outside developers, and give users a "social profile" dashboard to unify and manage their Yahoo! services. The ambitious plan is designed to let Yahoo! radically improve its position in key areas like search and social networking, and thus make a run at competitors like Google, MySpace and Facebook. With Yahoo! in the midst of fending off Microsoft's take-over attempt, the success of the strategy appears even more important.

Federal Judge Sets Formula for Internet Music Royalties
(Extracted from The Associated Press, May 1, 2008) On Wednesday, a federal court established a formula for determining the Internet royalties owed to thousands of music composers, writers and publishers by three major online services - Yahoo!, AOL and RealNetworks. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers hailed the decision, estimating the guidelines could yield as much as $100 million in payments covering a seven-year period ending in 2009.

Yahoo! IM for Vista Beta--Now With Voice Calls
(Extracted from CNET News, April 30, 2008) Yahoo! has released its Windows Vista beta of its instant-messaging software, adding support for voice chat and cell phone text messages. The Yahoo! Messenger version 9 beta software supports computer-to-computer calls as well as calls to and from phones, Yahoo! said Wednesday. It also can communicate with cell phone text messages sent with SMS (short message service) technology. The software is available at Yahoo!'s download site.

Delicious Beta Arrives for Firefox 3
(Extracted from CNET News, April 30, 2008) Yahoo! on Wednesday introduced a beta plug-in for its Delicious bookmarking service. The Firefox add-on for Delicious "now has full Firefox 3 support while retaining Firefox 2 compatibility," said Nick Nguyen, senior product manager for Delicious, in a blog posting. Delicious lets people save their bookmarks online, tag them with descriptive keywords, and share them with other Delicious members. Delicious is one very widely used tool, so the new plug-in should help lower barriers significantly.

Yahoo! CEO Yang Gets Salary of $1 and No Bonus
(Extracted from The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2008) Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang received a $1 salary for 2007, and no annual bonus. According to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Yang and Yahoo! agreed the $1 salary would be appropriate given his existing equity stake and because a substantial portion of his net worth is dependent upon the value of the company's common stock.

Women Entrepreneurs Win Yahoo! Grants
(Extracted from The Washington Post Blog, April 29, 2008) Three women who founded businesses focused on babies and children won Yahoo! grants for growing their firms, the online media giant announced Tuesday. The women entered the Seeds for Success competition and won $20,000 in cash, $5,000 worth of Web site consulting, and Web site hosting from Yahoo!. ... "We were very impressed, not only by the quality of the ideas, but also the strong interest among women in creating businesses built on providing solutions for real life, everyday problems," said Susan Vobejda, vice president of marketing for Yahoo! Small Business. "While many of the best business ideas centered around children's concerns, we also saw a variety of submissions focused on social responsibility. A reoccurring theme was that women see entrepreneurship as the best path for balancing the demands of home and family life with economic needs."

Yahoo! to Outsource Part of its IM
(Extracted from the Financial Times, April 29, 2008) Yahoo! is outsourcing the Internet telephone functions of its instant messaging program to the startup Jajah. Jajah will connect the calls to and from users of Yahoo! Messenger and handle billing and customer care, the startup said Tuesday. The move is part of Yahoo!'s strategy of focusing on core services, instituted by Jerry Yang after he took over as chief executive last year.