AOL’s MapQuest remains the top brand in online mapping and is still the most visited mapping site, despite recent gains by Google Maps. However, the “incumbent” MapQuest has been somewhat resistant to experimentation and slower to adopt new features.
But this morning the site is launching a MapQuest beta version of what promises to be the first of many changes in the coming months that will make it more dynamic, more visually interesting and content rich.
For all customers who subscribe to the 2020 CLASSIFIEDS service, your ad will now be seen by millions of visitors starting today. Your ad will be in the new MySpace Classifieds section.
The newly launched MySpace Classifieds today is to provide additional opportunities for MySpace’s users to locate and purchase goods or services for sale locally. MySpace has about 73 million unique visitors in the U.S.
Picture above: The new Apple iPhone 3G
For all our customers who subscribe to 2020 IYP service, your ad/company info will be display to all Apple iPhone 3G users starting July 11th when the device launches.
Apple is expected to sell 10 million iPhones by end of 2008.
When mobile users use their iPhone 3G (or first generation iPhone) to do a local search that relates to your product or services in your geographic area, your ad/company info will show up and they can contact you.
This is in addition to the fact that your ad/company info will show up on the web’s top online maps and Internet yellow pages sites.
View video on how a consumer would search, find, then contact your business.
To learn how you (and your ad) can reach these Apple users, subscribe to 2020 IYP service.
For all customers who subscribe to the 2020 CLASSIFIEDS service, your ad will now be seen by additional 30.1 million unique visitors starting today. Your ad will be in the Walmart.com Classifieds section.
The newly launched Walmart.com Classifieds beta is to provide additional opportunities for walmart’s customers to save money and live better. The free, community-based resource allows customers to buy and sell items locally, find local jobs and learn about events in their area.
It provides an expanded offering of products and services, the majority of which are not traditionally available from Wal-Mart, such as services, job listings, automobiles, rentals and real estate. It also further connects walmart’s community of 130 million customers who shop the Wal-Mart brand each week.
Here is the letter sent to Yahoo Board of Directors:
April 5, 2008
Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089Dear Members of the Board:
It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy.
While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. We understand that you have been meeting to consider and assess your alternatives, including alternative transactions with others in the industry, but we’ve seen no indication that you have authorized Yahoo! management to negotiate with Microsoft. This is despite the fact that our proposal is the only alternative put forward that offers your shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.
During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably, both in general and for other Internet-focused companies in particular. At the same time, public indicators suggest that Yahoo!’s search and page view shares have declined. Finally, you have adopted new plans at the company that have made any change of control more costly.
By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even more significant today. We believe that the majority of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public disclosures relating to your future prospects.
Given these developments, we believe now is the time for our respective companies to authorize teams to sit down and negotiate a definitive agreement on a combination of our companies that will deliver superior value to our respective shareholders, creating a more efficient and competitive company that will provide greater value and service to our customers. If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board. The substantial premium reflected in our initial proposal anticipated a friendly transaction with you. If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal.
It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees. We think it is critically important not to let this window of opportunity pass.
Sincerely,
Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Office
Microsoft Corp.
For all customers who subscribes to the 2020 CALL service, you ad will now be seen by additional millions of users starting today via AOL’s Local Search service (beta).
AOL Local is powered by Mapquest, the #1 mapping site in terms of traffic and the most recognized mapping brand in the world.
Traffic view of Miami, FL
For all customers who subscribe to the 2020 CLASSIFIEDS service, your ad will now be seen by additional 16 million unique visitors starting today. Your ad will be in the Fotolog Classifieds section.
Fotolog is the world’s leading photo-blogging site, one of the world’s largest social networking sites and a global cultural phenomenon. More than 13 million members in over 200 countries use Fotolog as a simple and fun way to express themselves through online photo diaries or photo blogs.
Launched in 2002, Fotolog today generates more than 3.9 billion page views and receives more than 16 million unique visitors each month. Fotolog ranks among the top 20 in the Alexa list of the world’s most trafficked websites and was named a Site of the Week by PC Magazine.
Fotolog, based in New York City, is a subsidiary of Hi-Media (HIM.PA), a leading online media company with headquarters in Paris, France.
Yahoo is discussing a possible Internet partnership with media conglomerate News Corp., its latest effort to repel Microsoft Corp.’s takeover bid or pry a better offer from the unsolicited suitor.
News Corp. is interested in folding its popular online social network, MySpace.com, and other Internet assets into Yahoo — an idea that first came up last year. A News Corp. stake in Yahoo might hinge on whether the two sides can agree on how much MySpace is worth.
According to insiders, the deal structure would spin off Fox Interactive Media (the primary asset is MySpace, but IGN, Scout Media, Photobucket, Fox Sports, AmericanIdol.com, Flektor, Ksolo; plus investments in Hulu, Simply Hired and Snocap are also assets of FIM) into Yahoo, along with a big cash injection from News Corp. and an unnamed private equity fund. The total investment would be valued at around $15 billion. A News Corp. stake in Yahoo might hinge on whether the two sides can agree on how much MySpace is worth.
News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005. But the social network’s value has soared as its audience swelled above 100 million users, creating a potential advertising gold mine.
Facebook, which owns the Internet’s second largest social network behind MySpace, now arguably has a $15 billion market value, based on Microsoft’s purchase late last year of a 1.6 percent stake for $240 million.
If Yahoo is able to work out a deal with News Corp., analysts believe Microsoft will simply raise its offer because it needs the acquisition to counteract Google’s dominance of the online ad market — a battleground that is rapidly reshaping the technology and media industries.
Analysts believe Microsoft is prepared to offer as much as $35 or $36 per share, if necessary, to get the Yahoo deal done.
“Buying Yahoo makes tremendous sense for Microsoft, more sense than any other company in the world,” said Ken Marlin, a New York investment banker specializing in media and technology deals.
Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s offer Monday, insisting that its Internet franchise is worth more money. Microsoft has held firm so far, calling its original “full and fair” while threatening to launch a hostile takeover attempt.
Here is the internal e-mail from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Microsoft employees explaining the Yahoo acquisition offer:
From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008
To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Proposed Acquisition of Yahoo!Today, I am very excited to announce that Microsoft has made a proposal to acquire Yahoo!. This announcement represents a big opportunity for Microsoft, and is the next major milestone in our companywide transformation to embrace online services, search, and advertising.
By combining the strengths of our companies, we can deliver an efficient and highly competitive offering for our customers. Our complementary assets will give us increased talent and scale to compete in the markets of search and online advertising, and pioneer new innovations in the areas of video, mobile services, online commerce, and social media.
This year, online advertising is a $40 billion business. It will grow to $80 billion by 2010 and will continue to increase in the years beyond. This market provides a significant growth opportunity for Microsoft—our ability to provide the best search and online experiences for consumers, and the best ad platform for publishers and advertisers, is the key to unlocking this opportunity.
We are on a good path with our existing search and advertising product roadmaps. To date, we have made progress in our organic online services and advertising efforts, and by joining with Yahoo!, we will take the next step toward becoming a major search destination and social platform for consumers. The combined reach of our content properties and combined breadth of our tools for advertisers will enable us to provide an online advertising platform at scale. Together, we’ll create a company that is in a much better position to compete against an increasingly dominant player in this market.
Through our recent acquisitions of aQuantive and Tellme, we understand what it takes to successfully integrate new talent, assets, and infrastructure into our company. Leaders from both Microsoft and Yahoo! will work together closely on the integration process to ensure that we are thoughtful about the questions we ask and the decisions we make. As we move forward, we’ll look carefully at how to bring our assets together to create the greatest value for customers, employees, and shareholders.
During this transition period, I urge you to stay focused on your commitments and team goals. We are committed to communicating with you frequently as our leadership team works on bringing the two companies together.
As I outlined in my quarterly strategy email last week, we grow by anticipating new areas where software has the greatest potential to create opportunities. The proposed acquisition of Yahoo! will transform our ability to compete as new opportunities in online services, search, and advertising emerge.
I am very excited about today’s announcement and about the collective talent and energy we will bring to the industry. A great opportunity is in front of us to evolve how people and businesses create, find, and use information. Through today’s proposed acquisition, we can take our business to new levels of success and growth.
Kevin Johnson, Chris Liddell, Ray Ozzie and I will host an employee web cast that can be viewed live beginning at 10:00am PST and will also be available on-demand. You can link to the web cast at http://msw/NewsEvents/StudioCasts/Pages/conferences.aspx
Steve
It’s been rumored for a long time, but now it’s reality.
Microsoft has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo. The bid, which would consist of cash and Microsoft stock, values Yahoo shares at $31 a share, a 62% premium on Thursdays closing price.
The value of the offer — $44.6 billion in cash and stock — makes it the largest bid on record in the high-tech sector, on top of Microsoft’s last acquisition of aQuantive, a digital marketing services agency, for $6 billion.
It also makes it a very expensive deal, even for a company the size of Microsoft.
As of Dec. 31, the software giant reported cash and short-term investments that totaled just over $21 billion. Essentially, Microsoft will use up all its cash for this deal.
Microsoft cites online advertising as being one of the key benefits of the acquisition, saying that “resulting benefits of scale along with the associated capital costs for advertising platform providers make this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners.”
Here’s the full text of Steve Ballmer’s letter to the Yahoo! board:
January 31, 2008
Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive OfficerDear Members of the Board:
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. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.
Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.
We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!’s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft’s share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.
Microsoft’s consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.
In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that “now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction.” According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board’s confidence in the “potential upside” if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.
While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:
Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.
Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences, breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities. Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that today neither of our companies has on its own.
Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of the combined entity.
Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video, mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is greatly enhanced.
We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.
We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.
Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.
In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.
Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.
We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!’s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Steven A. Ballmer
Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation
For all customers who subscribe to the 2020 CLASSIFIEDS service, your ad will now be seen by additional 54 million registered Friendster users starting today. Your ad will be in the Friendster Classifieds section and OLX.com.
With more than 54 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network. Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that are important to them.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and individual investors.
For all customers who subscribes to the 2020 CALL service, you ad will now be seen by additional 10 million users starting today via GateHouse Media’s 100+ local newspapers and websites.
GateHouse Media, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, New York, is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States as measured by its 101 daily publications.
GateHouse Media currently serves local audiences of more than 10 million per week across 23 states through hundreds of community publications and local websites.
GateHouse Media is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “GHS.”
We will be attending the International CES show in Las Vegas, NV from 1/7/08 -1/10/08. Let’s meet up if you are there.
2020 Classifieds
What a year! We have achieved so much this year and today we are announing our 2020 CLASSIFIEDS service now reaches 75 million online classifieds sites users who generates more than 60 billion page views per month!
Back in..
Oct 2007, the service reached 50 million users.
July 2007, the service reached 30 million users.
April 2007, the service reached 8 million users.
2020 CALL
The 2020 CALL service was loved by advertisers who preferred getting a “call” instead of a “click”. Their ads have distributed to top 3 of 3 local search sites and top 8 of 8 mobile carriers.
2020 IYP
The 2020 IYP service was loved by local and regional businesses. Their company profiles were distributed to top 15 of 15 Internet Yellow Pages/Local Search sites.
Have a great new year!
Victor
