Techmeme: Gillmor Gang Emergency Edition 05.03.08 (The Gillmor Gang)

1:20 PM ET, May 4, 2008

Top Items:

Yahoo! Issues Statement in Response to Microsoft — SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 03, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Roy Bostock, Chairman of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company issued the following statement today in response to Microsoft Corporation's announcement that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo!:

Discussion: Geek News Central, CNET News.com, BBC NEWS, TechCrunch, StepForth SEO News Blog, Forbes, I4U News, VoIP Blog, Guardian Unlimited, Furrier.org, Tech Trader Daily, LiveSide, Paul Kedrosky's …, BloggingStocks, Geek Speaker and MacRumors

Microsoft:

Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo! — Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc. — Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO).

The Gillmor Gang:

Gillmor Gang Emergency Edition 05.03.08 — The Gillmor Gang - Mike Arrington, Doc Searls, Dan Farber, Dana Gardner, Robert Anderson, and Robert Scoble - turn off the lights on the Microsoft/Yahoo deal? Recorded Saturday, May 3, 2008. — This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Gillmor Gang.

Discussion: Outside the Lines

DealBook:

Guessing Yahoo's Opening Stock Price — Update: We've added more predictions below. Well, Yahoo seems to have gotten what it wanted. — The company managed to fend off Microsoft's unwanted advances, even after the software giant sweetened its bid by $5 billion — an amount Yahoo felt still wasn't enough.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider, Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog and Digital Daily

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:

MicroHoo: The Odd Couple Meetings Led Nowhere — After today's events, I guess you could say Yahoo and Microsoft tried, holding a series of meetings about a possible takeover that ended up proving exactly how incompatible the companies were. — Kind of like Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, but not funny in any way at all.

Discussion: Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, Between the Lines, Valleywag, Paul Kedrosky's … and Hollywood Newsroom

Ina Fried / Beyond Binary:

OK, so what's Microsoft's plan B? — With Yahoo apparently off the table, it's time to see what Microsoft's back-up plan looks like. — Microsoft has said for some time that it has a strategy with or without Yahoo, but it's a strategy clearly in need of a jump-start.

Discussion: The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs and About Mobility Weblog

Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Offer After Attempt to Bridge Gap in Price — Microsoft Corp. said it abandoned its offer for Yahoo Inc., as the two companies failed to bridge a gap between them on price. — Microsoft Saturday released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer …

Discussion: Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check and Tech Beat

Dawn Kawamoto / CNET News.com:

Report: A peek behind the Yahoo-Microsoft meltdown — Curious how Microsoft's multi-multi-multi-billion dollar buyout bid for Yahoo sputtered, then crashed? — Kara Swisher's BoomTown column in All Things Digital has an interesting account of the missteps, sidesteps …

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:

Yahoo's Tough Week Ahead — At around 4:30 California time today news broke that Microsoft has formally withdrawn its offer to acquire Yahoo (see Ballmer's email to Microsoft employees here). — Among other things, that ends a three month stock party where the market value of Yahoo jumped …

Discussion: Microsoft Watch, MediaShift and Paul Mooney

Yi-Wyn Yen / Fortune:

Blame it on Google — Microsoft CEO Ballmer said the software giant decided to walk away from a bid because Yahoo would become ‘undesirable’ if it formed an alliance with Google. — (Fortune) — Google proved to be the final straw that broke Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's back.

Discussion: MacDailyNews and CNNMoney.com

Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Yahoo's Nightmare Scenario: I'm From Google and I'm Here to Help!

Discussion: Groundswell, Digital Daily and Paul Kedrosky's …

Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed:
Analysis of the Microsoft Decision, Plus Yahoo's Hari-Kari

Discussion: broadstuff

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Email From Steve Ballmer To All Microsoft Employees

Discussion: InsideMicrosoft, WebProNews, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and VentureBeat

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Breaking: Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Bid; Walks Away From Deal (Updated)

New York Times:
Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo

Discussion: DSLreports, MarketingVOX, Adrants, CNET News.com, Business Week, Techlog, The Big Picture, Beyond Binary, deal architect, Search Engine Watch Blog, paidContent.org, Search Engine Land, John Battelle's Searchblog, WebGuild, Engadget, Slashdot and Digg

BBC:
Microsoft walks away from Yahoo

Discussion: Gizmodo and TECH.BLORGE.com

Daniel Cochlin / Daily Mail:

Robobug goes to war: Troops to use electronic insects to spot enemy ‘by end of the year’ — It may have seemed like just another improbable scene from a Hollywood sci-fi flick - Tom Cruise battling against an army of robotic spiders intent on hunting him down.

Discussion: Digg

Darren Murph / Engadget:

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 overview and video — After giving the new IdeaPad U110 its 15 minutes of fame in front of the camera, we got down to business. The 11.1-inch ultraportable is built like a tank — a really, really lightweight tank. The uniquely-designed lid and (overly) …

Discussion: Guardian Unlimited

Darren Murph / Engadget:
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 unboxing and hands-on

Discussion: Tech Blog

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