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Yahoo! Inc.has received an unsolicited proposal from Microsoft to acquire the Company for $44.6 billion. Yahoo! Board of Directors said that it will evaluate the proposal carefully and promptly in the context of the company’s strategic plans and will pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.
Originally posted on February 1, 2008 @ 8:31 am
No yahoos or hoorays in Yahoo! these days for the reorganization headed by CEO Jerry Yang will result to job cuts of 500 to 700 people or 5% of the Internet company’s 14,000-workforce.
According to Financial Times, sources have confirmed these redundancies will be announced in the forthcoming 4th quarter earnings report. Yahoo has experienced declining profits in the last 7 quarters due to the worsening economic condition and tight competition against the seemingly formidable Google as well as sensational startups such as Facebook and MySpace.
Yahoo! stated it must make “tough decisions about the business to help the company growâ€, focus efforts in priority areas and let go of other non-essential initiatives.
Despite these layoffs, Yahoo confirms it will still hire people in core areas of its business. Now, the thrust is to make Yahoo! Mail as the starting point of the Internet among its 500 million users scattered around the globe.
Originally posted on January 24, 2008 @ 10:44 am
Yahoo! announced its support for the OpenID 2.0 digital identity framework for all 248 million active registered Yahoo! users worldwide. OpenID, an open framework based on proven Internet technologies, enables users to consolidate their Internet identity, eliminating the need to create separate IDs and logins at all of the various websites, blogs, and profile pages they may visit in the course of their online session. In addition to the many leading Yahoo! services users already enjoy, anyone with a Yahoo! ID will be able to use the same ID for easy access to any sites that support OpenID 2.0.
Yahoo!’s initial OpenID service, which will be available in public beta on January 30, enables a seamless and transparent web experience by allowing users to use their custom OpenID identifier on me.yahoo.com or to simply type in “www.yahoo.com†or “www.flickr.com†on any site that supports OpenID 2.0. Alternatively, web sites that accept OpenID 2.0 will be able to add a simple “Sign-in with Your Yahoo! ID†button to their login pages that will make it even easier for their users. Yahoo! is working with several partners, including Plaxo and JanRain, to make it possible for users to access these sites with their Yahoo! ID from the first day of the public beta.
Yahoo!’s implementation is based on the OpenID 2.0 specification, which Yahoo! worked closely with the OpenID foundation and community to finalize in December 2007, and includes new features that improve security and usability of OpenID, making it the most user-friendly single sign-on and online user-authentication standard. Yahoo! users who log in with their Yahoo! ID on OpenID sites will have the added protection of Yahoo!’s sign-in seal wherever they go on the web. In addition, no email or IM addresses are revealed or disclosed as part of the login process, which further helps protect users from phishing or other attacks.
Originally posted on January 17, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Canoe.ca and Yahoo! Canada formed a strategic alliance that will improve the online experience of over 18 million Canadians by teaming up Yahoo!’s industry-leading search functionality and Canoe’s extensive Canadian content.
Canadians will now be able to take advantage of the Yahoo! search functionality when they visit Canoe.ca or access classifieds powered by vitevitevite.ca on Yahoo! Quebec or classifiedextra.ca on Yahoo! Canada. The integration of Canoe.ca content and other classified services into Yahoo! Canada and Yahoo! Quebec is slated for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2008, and will include Personals powered by Reseaucontact.com, Autos powered by Autonet.ca and Real Estate powered by Micasa.ca.
Originally posted on January 15, 2008 @ 11:50 am