Market Currents

• Tuesday, November 17, 2009

• 16:55 PM ComScore's latest search rankings have Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) gaining, and Yahoo (YHOO) slipping - again. Google grows to 65.4% from 64.9%; Bing goes to 9.9% from 9.4%; and Yahoo slips to 18% from 18.8%. 1 Comment

• Wednesday, November 11, 2009

• 13:24 PM Experian Hitwise says Bing's (MSFT) search market share increased 7% in October, at the expense of rivals Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO), whose market shares fell 1% each. Google's share now stands at 70.6%, to Yahoo's 16.1%, Bing's 9.6% and Ask.com's 2.6%. Comment!

• Tuesday, November 10, 2009

• 07:58 AM Yahoo (YHOO) chief Carol Bartz says the company is done with cost-cutting, and is now looking to hire. Bartz told CNBC Q4 is indicating growth, and added she expects regulatory approval for the search-ad deal with Microsoft (MSFT) in Q1. 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 5, 2009

• 10:12 AM Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer says he's interested in expanding the search engine partnership with Yahoo (YHOO) outside the U.S., if the combo gets regulatory approval. Comment!

• Wednesday, October 28, 2009

• 17:47 PM Yahoo (YHOO) says that it has agreed with Microsoft (MSFT) to extend negotiation time on their search and advertising deal, which was to be executed by yesterday. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz: "We still have some things we want to nail down ... There's no 'out' here, the letter agreement is binding." 1 Comment
• 15:25 PM Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz shoots straight with analysts today: The company "somehow got boring," and 6% operating margins are "pathetic" and "unacceptable." The company has pledged more editorial investment and says pageviews, time spent and clickthroughs are up. "Today is the beginning of a journey back to respect," Bartz says. (recently: I, II, III) Comment!

• Tuesday, October 27, 2009

• 17:00 PM Yahoo (YHOO), not wanting to be left out of the real-time search parade (Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) deals), will soon launch their effort - but reportedly not through Twitter and Facebook pacts, but through partnering with OneRiot. Comment!
• 13:54 PM Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) are the standouts in Barclays Capital's online advertising revenue data, for different reasons. Comment!

• Sunday, October 25, 2009

• 17:25 PM Swap shares of Yahoo (YHOO) for Google (GOOG), Barron's says, noting Google's pulling away from its rival while Yahoo's ad revenue can at best be described as 'less bad.' "With the economy still huffing toward recovery, investing in a turnaround story is only for the brave. The safer bet is Google, which has emerged from the recession seemingly stronger than before." 1 Comment

• Friday, October 23, 2009

• 19:14 PM Carl Icahn resigns from Yahoo's (YHOO) board, saying there's "not a need at this time for an activist investor" and praising CEO Carol Bartz and the Microsoft (MSFT) deal. He says he's plenty busy these days. YHOO -1.9% AH. (previously: I, II) 1 Comment

• Thursday, October 22, 2009

• 13:56 PM Why aren't you blogging, Carl Icahn? "I've been sort of busy. And right now, with the market up, there's not as much interest in corporate governance like there was a couple of months ago." Damien Park notes Carl's been among the most active of activists, seeking board seats at Enzon Pharmaceuticals (ENZN), Biogen (BIIB), Amylin (AMLN) and Lions Gate (LGF), and contuining to pester Yahoo (YHOO). 1 Comment

• Wednesday, October 21, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: SLM +11%. SNDK +5%. YHOO +5%. ELN +4%.
  Losers: AGEN -41%. TSFG -23%. PLCM -13%. ATI -7%. KEY -4%. GNBT -4%. STM -4%. BEE -4%. 1 Comment

• Tuesday, October 20, 2009

• 18:43 PM Yahoo (YHOO +5.5%) CFO Tim Morse, on Yahoo's Q3 earnings call (live transcript), talks about cost cutting: "There's a change occurring in Yahoo! that will value that kind of work - that good old-fashioned, get-your-hands-dirty kind of find ways to take costs down or make sure that they don't go up as much as they otherwise would have - type work." 2 Comments
• 18:15 PM On Yahoo's (YHOO +5.5%) Q3 earnings call (live transcript), JMP's Sameet Simha asks why Yahoo needed to hire 200 new people in Q3. CFO Tim Morse: "The hiring was predominately on the product side... We are committed to making sure we are every bit the technology company that we know we are." Comment!
• 18:04 PM On Yahoo's (YHOO +5.5%) Q3 earnings call (live transcript), CFO Tim Morse explains why a proposed seach tie-up with Microsoft (MSFT) doesn't signal Yahoo's exit from search: Just like Dell PCs, HPs and Macs all use the same chips, but differ by the user experiences that vendors tack on - "It's the same for us in search: we'll innovate on top of the results that are provided to us by Microsoft." Comment!
• 17:07 PM Yahoo's (YHOO) Q3 results aren't as important as Q4, when we finally get to see results of its branding work, Gartner's Allen Weiner says. "There's potentially a huge halo effect around Yahoo, around this branding. [And] we'll see if the search deal with Microsoft (MSFT) goes through." Today is "a very soft prelude," he says, but a good one. Comment!