While cleaning out our bookmarks, we noticed Dave Zinczenko has not updated his Yahoo! sex/relationship blog since March 18, leaving it without a fresh post for nearly three months exactly. [Yahoo]
ZINCZENKO LOSING HIS LIBIDO? Tomorrow will be the 50th day since Men's Health washboard Dave Zinczenko posted to his Yahoo blog about relationships and sex. And his last post was only rated "helpful" by 30 percent of its readers. [Yahoo]
In order to fend off Microsoft's takeover bid, Yahoo is said to be teaming up with Time Warner's AOL division in a merger. [Reuters]
One trend we already discovered Americans love is emailing each other photos of fat people. Taking another gander at Yahoo's most-emailed photo list, a new phenomenon emerges: You really want your friends and family to see conjoined twin newborns!
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Unlike Arianna Huffington, ex-Jane editor Brandon Holley is taking a novel approach to web journalism: paying writers! The founding maestra of Yahoo's lady site Shine, Holley – who refuses to call the outfit a web magazine, but rather a website set up to resemble a blog, which is so much better – says that if they find Shine users who blog enough to become "very, very popular, we would probably make them columnists. Nothing will happen for the first several months, because we sort of need to see how this comes out." That is, to see if they can make any money first. So it's not exactly a novel approach, but at least there's a possibility Shine's business plan has a clause about paying talent.
Yahoo's just-launched women's site, the Brandon Holley-led Shine, which is heavy on the whitespace, might be a mix of Huffington Post, WOWOWOW.com, and People magazine. We're pretty sure all of them have counted down the 100 unsexiest men. [Shine]
Both of these photos sit atop Yahoo's most-emailed list. You already know why people are sending them to friends, but do you actually care what these photos depict? CONTINUED »
Like President Bush, Yahoo admits its relationship with China is "complex." So many millions of wired Chinese, so many government restrictions, and so much money on the table.
Already wearing scarlet letters for voluntarily censoring its Chinese search results and aiding Chinese authorities in identifying journalist Shi Tao (who was jailed for 10 years in 2005 for "divulging state secrets"), the search giant now stands accused of posting some 19 photos of Tibetan protesters on its website, essentially identifying rioters for Chinese authorities eager to punish the opposition.
On Friday, the homepage of Yahoo China – which is operated by the privately held e-commerce Alibaba Group, which Yahoo owns 40 percent of – ran a "most wanted" poster that promised rewards for anyone who could help officials track down protesters. (Other sites, including MSN's Chinese page, are said to have published similar content.) But that notice disappeared once French news outlet Observers fired off a mass email blast about it.
But now Yahoo says it did not post the photos of the Tibetan crowd, which were distributed by Chinese officials. (The photo here is of a protest in Rome.)
In a statement, Yahoo claims, "We are a company founded on the principle that promoting access to information can fundamentally improve people's lives and enhance their relationship with the world around them." The 13 Tibetans who have so far died the upheaval would have to agree.
MICROSOFT WILL RAPE YAHOO! IF NECESSARY Okay, so apparently The Rules aren't applicable to hostile takeovers. After a lot of unreturned texts and other signs, Yahoo! formally dumped Microsoft yesterday. But Microsoft will continue to pursue a Yahoo! takeover by any means necessary. [LAT]
ANTI-TRUST, SHMANTI-TRUST Yahoo! must really hate Microsoft. Following Microsoft's unsolicited, inflated bid, Yahoo! has been chatting it up with its chief rival, Google. Everything is on the hush-hush, but it's likely the talks center around giving Google reign over its advertising. But a deal would ultimately about Yahoo! hating Microsoft. It's so nice that rivals like Google and Yahoo! are able to connect over a common enemy. [LAT]
If there’s one thing we should have learned about dating in New York, it’s that pressure never leads to results. If someone’s not that into you, making demands won’t change that.
Yahoo!, despite being the romantic equivalent of a 39 year-old woman with a big ass and two cats, is just not that into Microsoft’s bid. But Microsoft, the 45 year-old longtime bachelor with a dying mother whose last wish is to have grandchild, thinks, "Whatever, let’s do this thing."
At an investor meeting Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said, "We think it's in our interest, in Yahoo!'s interest to resolve their future as quickly as possible.”
Seriously, Microsoft. Watch some Sex and the City. Ultimatums never work.
Let’s say, hypothetically, that you were a company that had been completely bested by your rival. The only people who use your products do so out of pity or laziness. And that laying off hundreds of employees was your best option in what will ultimately be a futile effort to stay afloat. And let’s also say, again, just hypothetically, that your name ended absurdly with an exclamation point.
Well, then you would be Yahoo!, and should be pretty excited that Microsoft was making a stupidly high offer for your company in hopes of taking down Google. And even though few other companies are in a better position to take over Yahoo! financially or otherwise, Yahoo! is still weighing its options:
[The review] will include evaluating all of the Company's strategic alternatives including maintaining Yahoo! as an independent company.
Because, you know, something better could come along.
DEALS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo!, you know that other search engine/email provider. Yeah, the one that's not Google. Microsoft is willing to pay $44.6 billion, a 62 percent premium, for a company that is becoming obsolete. We get that Microsoft and Yahoo! share an enemy, but this deal seems like it will end in tears. Then again, if we understood how deals like this work, we wouldn't be working from home in our pajamas in deep Brooklyn. [NYT]
CRAPS! Search giants Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are ponying up $31.5 million to settle charges they promoted gambling by accepting ads from illegal online gaming companies. As for promoting risky subprime home loans? In the clear! [Bloomberg]
Editorial Director
