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Yahoo! Inc.

6/18/2013, 7:11 PM ET

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Tuesday, June 18, 9:48 AM Yahoo (YHOO +1.1%) is looking to buy address book app developer Xobni for $30M-$40M, and video creation app developer Qwiki for $50M, Kara Swisher reports. Xobni, reported to be on Yahoo's shopping list earlier in June, is said to consider Yahoo "the most natural home for it, given its strong e-mail offerings." Qwiki originally built a site and iPad app that automatically created multimedia "stories" for reference topics (a deal was reached with Yahoo partner Bing), but has since shifted its attention to an app for creating movies out of a user's photos and videos. Regardless, its video automation tech likely intrigues a company that just bought Summly. 1 Comment [Tech, M&A]
Thursday, June 13, 2:12 PM Global mobile ad sales will grow 79% in 2013 to $15.8B, and Google (GOOG) will account for $8.85B (56%) of them on the back of 92% growth, estimates eMarketer. Facebook's (FB) mobile ad sales are seen rising over 4x to $2.04B (12.9% share), Pandora's (P) 67% to $400M, Twitter's 121% to $310M, and Millennial Media's (MM) 71% to $120M. Total digital (Web/mobile) ad sales are expected to rise 10% in 2013 to $116.8B, with Google growing 19% to $38.8B, Facebook 38% to $5.89B, Microsoft (MSFT) 22% to $2.08B, LinkedIn (LNKD) 46% to $380M, and Yahoo (YHOO) just 3% to $3.63B. (U.S. mobile estimates) 4 Comments [Tech]
Thursday, June 13, 9:31 AM Yahoo (YHOO) follows up on the GhostBird acquisition by snapping up Rondee, a 6-year-old Web conferencing startup that sought to make conference calls easier for consumers to set up (and which faced plenty of competition). Yahoo is shutting down the service, and Rondee's team will join Yahoo's Small Business unit. (list of Yahoo acquisitions) (Yahoo and the Series A crunch) Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Wednesday, June 12, 5:27 PM Yahoo's (YHOO) startup M&A spree continues with the acquisition of GhostBird Software, developer of iOS photo apps KitCam (a camera replacement app with Instagram-like filters) and PhotoForge 2 (a relatively advanced photo-editing app). Not too surprisingly (given Yahoo's history), GhostBird has pulled the apps from the App Store, and says its employees will be joining the Flickr team. The purchase bears a resemblance to Google's acquisition of Nik Software (developer of the popular Snapseed photo-editing app). (Flickr overhaul) (Google+ photo updates) Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Friday, June 7, 10:49 AM Yahoo (YHOO +1.7%) is "in serious discussions" to buy address book app/plugin developer Xobni, sources tell AllThingsD. Much like to-do list app developer Astrid, Xobni would tie in well with Yahoo Mail. The company has raised $40M+ and has a solid App Store rating for its Smartr Contacts app, which automatically pieces together profile data for a user's phone and social media contacts. But (like many startups Yahoo has targeted) it has failed to draw a huge following. Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Friday, June 7, 3:36 AM Revelations over government electronic surveillance have widened to include several of the country's largest technology companies under a program called PRISM. A National Security Agency document reportedly shows that it has "direct access" to the servers of Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO), Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Paltalk, AOL (AOL), Skype, YouTube and Apple (AAPL). While the NSA document says PRISM has the consent of these firms, those contacted denied any knowledge of the program. The question is whether the disclosures will cause a drop-off in user activity. 26 Comments [Tech, Consumer, Top Stories]
Thursday, June 6, 10:49 AM Alibaba's IPO continues to draw closer: Reuters reports the offering may come by year's end, and that Credit Suisse is expected to be a lead underwriter. Much like the Facebook IPO, look for the deal's prestige - Citi CEO Michael Corbat and other top bank execs have reportedly been meeting with Alibaba execs - to translate into low underwriting fees. The report comes shortly after Yahoo (YHOO +0.5%) CFO Ken Goldman called his company's initial Alibaba stake sale "unfortunate," and stated Yahoo would like to avoid paying a giant tax bill the second time around. 2 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, June 5, 11:11 AM Yahoo's (YHOO -1%) search page is the latest product to be given a facelift by the Web giant: faster page loads and a more streamlined navigation bar are part of the package. Though Yahoo depends on Bing for search results, Marissa Mayer has argued "most of the innovation on search" will occur at the UI level, where Yahoo can differentiate. comScore estimates Yahoo had 12% of the U.S. search market in April, but its global share is much lower, and a tiny mobile share isn't helping. Meanwhile, a BI survey of 1,200 readers finds 57% saying they're "unhappy" with the revamped Yahoo Mail: users complain about performance, disappearing e-mails, and message-loading errors. 8 Comments [Tech]
Sunday, June 2, 2:53 AM Satellite operator DirecTV (DTV) and two other unidentified suitors have reportedly bid over $1B each to acquire Hulu. The owners of the online video service, which are News Corp (NWS), Disney (DIS) and Comcast (CMCSA), have received seven offers for the company, and intend to cut the shortlist down over the next few weeks. Previous reports have said that other bidders include Yahoo (YHOO), KKR (KKR) and Time Warner Cable (TWC). 5 Comments [Consumer, M&A, Top Stories]
Friday, May 31, 11:07 AM Citing a jump in complaints about hacked accounts, BT is abandoning Yahoo Mail (YHOO) as the e-mail platform for its broadband services in favor of home-grown BT Mail. 6M Yahoo Mail accounts will be migrated. Meanwhile, Tumblr continues to roll out fresh ad formats. A month after adding sponsored posts (similar to Facebook's Sponsored Stories) to its mobile apps, Tumblr has brought them to its Web dashboard; initial partners include Ford, AT&T, and Viacom. Marissa Mayer has stated Tumblr could see premium and retargeted ads, and Tumblr CEO David Karp has touted his service's potential to enable "creative brand advertising" that breaks traditional display ad molds. 2 Comments [Tech]
Tuesday, May 28, 12:22 PM Already China's eBay (and then some), Alibaba wants to become the logistics backbone of China's e-commerce industry (worth an estimated $190B in 2012). The company's China Smart Logistics Network (CSN), officially launched today, promises to eventually deliver goods between any two cities in China within 24 hours. Alibaba says it will invest CNY100B ($16.3B) in the network, and expects it to be able to handle CNY30B ($4.9B) in daily transactions when completed in 8-10 years. If CSN proves a success, it could do much to justify the huge valuations being thrown around for Alibaba ahead of an IPO Yahoo (YHOO) investors can't wait to see happen. Comment! [Tech]
Friday, May 24, 3:12 PM Yahoo (YHOO +1.7%) throws its name into the Hulu hat to join a number of P-E firms as well as DirecTV and Time Warner Cable in the hunt. Owners Disney (DIS +0.1%), Comcast (CMCSA +0.2%), and News Corp (NWS, NWSA) will weigh the best offer, but will also want to position themselves on the content side to be protected. (Previous on Hulu-mania) 16 Comments [Tech, Consumer]
Tuesday, May 21, 6:01 PM Apple (AAPL) roundup: 1) iOS 7 will reportedly feature integration with additional online services, including Flickr (YHOO) and video site Vimeo. Yesterday, Yahoo announced a big overhaul for Flickr. 2) Peter Misek remains downbeat, predicting Apple's gross margin will be pressured by its use of OGS touch sensor tech in the iPhone 6 (differs from the iPhone 5's in-cell tech), and by app processor price hikes from Samsung (checks indicate 25%-50% hikes). 3) As Senate hearings dominate headlines, EU leaders are looking to end the tax shelters Apple and other tech companies have created. 4) BrandZ again ranks Apple the world's most valuable brand; it's followed by Google IBM, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola. (Apple/Yahoo report) 12 Comments [Tech]
Tuesday, May 21, 10:46 AM Oppenheimer raises estimates for Yahoo (YHOO +1.5%) and lifts its PT to $30, and BMO raises its PT to $27. Both cite Alibaba IPO expectations - Oppenheimer previously gave Alibaba a $77B valuation. Also, on the Yahoo/Tumblr front: 1) Marissa Mayer says Tumblr could see premium ads and retargeted ads (i.e. ads based on browsing activity on other sites). 2) A source tells Valleywag Tumblr's 2012 revenue was under $5M, below prior reports of $13M. 3) Instapaper developer/early Tumblr employee Marco Arment provides high praise for Tumblr CEO David Karp. "I’ve only seen one other 'product person' as good as David, and that was Steve Jobs." (previous) Comment! [Tech]
Monday, May 20, 5:55 PM Yahoo (YHOO) shows off a big overhaul for Flickr on a day when Tumblr is dominating headlines. The new Flickr site dedicates a lot more real estate to images at the expense of white space, and (echoing Yahoo's home page revamp) features a Facebook-like activity feed. Yahoo is also now giving Flickr users a whopping 1TB of free storage (easily more than most rivals), and allowing 3-minute-or-shorter 1080p video uploads. Will it be enough to reverse the fortunes of a service that has become an also-ran in a very competitive online photo-sharing space? (previous) Comment! [Tech]
Monday, May 20, 12:15 PM Facebook (FB -2.1%) slides after Yahoo (YHOO +1.3%) confirms it's buying social blogging leader Tumblr, which (like Twitter) is arguably a threat to Facebook's engagement levels. In spite of its focus on personal networks, Facebook has been trying to encroach on Tumblr's turf via its support for "public" posts that can be followed by anyone. However, uptake has largely been driven by media figures, rather than regular users. In paying $1.1B for Tumblr, Yahoo is betting the platform's social features and network effects will let it become the Twitter of longer-form material. If this happens, and Tumblr isn't simply viewed as another blogging platform, the price tag could look cheap. (previous) Comment! [Tech, On the Move, M&A]

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