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The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

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Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#111

Post by davidw »

zaidf wrote: post #82
gnok wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. We don't know what Yahoo wants to do with Tumblr. All we have are rumors, a WSJ report and tons of idle speculation. Without knowing what the intended end game is, I don't see how we can call the acquisition a "success" or "failure", much less the CEO's. I also don't agree that "a sign of progress" is "making it succeed in the long run". Google is no genius with large acquisitions either. Motorola and Blo…

Google is a genius at acquisitions IMO. To qualify as a genius you don't need a 100% of acquisitions to work out. You do need a few to work out tremendously. Google has those. Meanwhile, what's the last yahoo acquisition that didn't turn into disappointment soon after the acquisition? We can go back 15 years and be hard-pressed to find one. On the other hand there are plenty of disaster acquisitions including broadca…

This thread sounds like "he said, she said".

Anyone got a nice spreadsheet of who has acquired what, with the fate of the acquired unit and people? How long did they stick around? That seems like the minimum - maybe there are clever ways to add information to it.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#112

Post by pseut »

riggins wrote: post #72
steven2012 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't make sense. Which CEO doesn't believe that their stock won't go up in 3 years? If they don't believe it, they should be fired. Cash is much more valuable than stock. Any CEO worth their salt would ALWAYS issue stock and never cash, since stock is essentially free (with some GAAP repercussions, but better that then spend cash). But it sounds like tumblr wanted cash instead of cash/stock. It doesn't matter…

Cash is much more valuable than stock. this claim is indefensible. It depends on the valuation of the company. For example, at IPO MSFT had 25M shares outstanding @ $21, total market cap of $525M. Obviously 5M shares of MSFT stock (market value of $100M) in 1986 was worth far more than $100M of cash. On the flip side, $100M in cash would have been worth more than $100M in Groupon stock (at the IPO valuation).

More valuable than stock ex ante, obviously not always ex post.

Since the price of a publicly traded stock reflects expectations about future valuations, but also has some additional risk, the cash is usually going to be valued more. "indefensible" is too strong, "not true in every single possible case" might be more accurate. Even then, your examples aren't that helpful; an example of a publicly traded company whose shares were widely thought to be underpriced would be better.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#113

Post by codeonfire »

steven2012 wrote: post #37
keiferski wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My best guesses: 1. Yahoo would rather spend cash than stock (possibly because they anticipate Yahoo stock going up in the future). If Yahoo thinks that $1 in stock today will be worth $2 in 3 years , it might make more sense to spend cash. This is a huge gamble, of course. 2. Cash is intrinsically more valuable than stock; in other words $1 cash != $1 stock. Yahoo may feel more comfortable spending $1 Billion cash t…

This doesn't make sense. Which CEO doesn't believe that their stock won't go up in 3 years? If they don't believe it, they should be fired. Cash is much more valuable than stock. Any CEO worth their salt would ALWAYS issue stock and never cash, since stock is essentially free (with some GAAP repercussions, but better that then spend cash). But it sounds like tumblr wanted cash instead of cash/stock. It doesn't matter…

"This doesn't make sense. Which CEO doesn't believe that their stock won't go up in 3 years? If they don't believe it, they should be fired."

Yes, they should be fired, but that's not how business works. In reality executives are self-dealing all of the time and corporations survive due to the constant small wins and losses between large groups of self-dealing people.

The CEO, as an insider, has the best knowledge of a company's financial position and estimates of the coming year. Additionally, executives can manipulate earnings and costs by a degree to achieve the outcome they want.

Issuing stock signals to investors that insiders expect the price to go down just as buybacks signal that it will go up. Issuing stock will send the stock lower whether or not the actual numbers show losses in the future.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#114

Post by mcintyre1994 »

technoslut wrote: post #84
wildgift wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It needs an overhaul, but it does what I need, which is share a few hundred images, broken up into sets. I've tried a couple other sites and apps, and haven't switched yet.

It does what everybody needs at this point but people have drifted towards services like Instagram because it is so well thought out and easy to use. In a lot of ways most people are looking for what Flickr offers but refuse to use it. They want privacy, a place to back up their full-resolution smartphone photos and for a very cheap price.

Depending how much you trust Google's privacy settings, doesn't Google+ fit that bill? I don't think it's what photographers really want, but it sounds like a solid alternative.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#115

Post by orangethirty »

A business without a proper model, lack of revenue, losing money, fighting off pornography and spammers is worth 1.1 billion in cash to Yahoo. The users will flee, they always do. The engineering dept. will be hired out, it always is. All that Yahoo will have is a domain, a database filled with cats and naked people, and a real problem on its hands. Bad move, Yahoo. The way to re-build Yahoo is not to buy zombie businesses. It is to give the engineering dept. freedom to innovate.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#116

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

ben1040 wrote: post #41
minimaxir wrote: post #4

I'd recommend watching the #yahoo! feed on Tumblr in order to watch the Tumblr community's reaction, and see the inevitable hilarity. (Not providing a link due to high probability of NSFW content. Search for #yahoo! on Tumblr.)

It's amazing how many people here are saying things like "my tumblr represents my identity and I do not want to lose my identity to Yahoo" and "I don't want to lose the only place where I can express myself."

Well, it's filled with asocial, mostly female, teenagers like myself. Those statements are fairly accurate, in some sense.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#117

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

ricardobeat wrote: post #34
minimaxir wrote: post #4

I'd recommend watching the #yahoo! feed on Tumblr in order to watch the Tumblr community's reaction, and see the inevitable hilarity. (Not providing a link due to high probability of NSFW content. Search for #yahoo! on Tumblr.)

Please sign this petition! [...] we can do this. We got a girl a goddamn fluffy chicken, and took over the Internet with the Mishapocalypse. What on earth are they talking about? Also no chance well be google users 5eva if you do this

Mishapocalypse is something of a tumblr meme.

5eva is also a meme, although it's better known across the web (coming from a cringeworthy copy-pasted text)

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#118

Post by Yahoo9823471 »

mani27 wrote: post #38

The rate at which Yahoo is buying out companies for talent acquiring , I wonder what must be going through minds of engineers at yahoo.

It's mixed. Some are jealous of what some of these startups, like Summly, are getting paid. Others are happy to have more talented people to bolster our ranks.

I'm definitely in the latter. I've watched Yahoo lose so many great people, especially last year. This is a good thing for Yahoo.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#119

Post by Choronzon »

k_kelly wrote: post #45
mani27 wrote: post #38

The rate at which Yahoo is buying out companies for talent acquiring , I wonder what must be going through minds of engineers at yahoo.

As an outsider it looks like Yahoo is saying it will back big crazy engineering projects if they have potential. To me Yahoo went from being the last place I'd ever want to end up to being an exciting company. It's an amazing turnaround.

However big crazy engineering projects require money which is been sunk into dumb social purchases instead.I can imagine it killing internal engineering morale also.

Re: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for Tumblr

#120

Post by gahahaha »

Zigurd wrote: post #109
gnok wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. We don't know what Yahoo wants to do with Tumblr. All we have are rumors, a WSJ report and tons of idle speculation. Without knowing what the intended end game is, I don't see how we can call the acquisition a "success" or "failure", much less the CEO's. I also don't agree that "a sign of progress" is "making it succeed in the long run". Google is no genius with large acquisitions either. Motorola and Blo…

Motorola stands out as a clunker. It is very expensive, even for Google. It is a distraction for management. It is a threat to Google's culture. It fails to be a stick to beat patent trolls. It has all the problems of an underperforming mobile OEM, while breeding doubt among Google's important partners. And all these criticisms were leveled by many people before Google bought Motorola. Some things really are plain to…

> Motorola stands out as a clunker.

When Google bought Motorola, the reasoning I read was all about patents. They still have those patents, and it might have been a good acquisition no matter the state of Motorola the company...

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