SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 04-29-2008 Part II
Abstract: 1. Microsoft and Yahoo Standoff In Silence, 2. MySpace HyperTargeting Ad System Will Be Optional
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
9:48 pm on April 29, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Tuesday April 29, 2008
Microsoft and Yahoo Standoff In Silence
The deadline that Microsoft placed on Yahoo to reach a negotiated merger agreement passed on Saturday April 26th and the two companies have made no apparent headway. Now the focus is on Microsoft, which warned that if its deadline was not met, it would seek to oust Yahoo’s board and take its takeover offer directly to shareholders, perhaps at a lower price. Citi Analyst, Mark Mahaney, who has been consistently right in his analysis throughout the Yahoo/Microsoft takeover battle, said he believes the deal now has a 90% chance of happening, up from a 60% chance he projected on February 2. Mahaney thinks a Yahoo/Microsoft deal will take place either through a hostile move by Microsoft, which he gives a 40 percent chance or via a negotiated deal, which he gives a 50 percent chance.
Social networking web site MySpace has made the decision to offer users of its Web site the option to be included in its targeted advertising system that will deliver advertisements based on information compiled from a users profile page. MySpace’s HyperTargeting system looks at a user’s personal interests to classify the user into particular interest-specific categories that advertisers can choose to target with advertisements, with the hope that it will be better received. HyperTargeting trial tests are said to have resulted in a 300 percent increase in click through rates on ads, signifying the system will result in success.
9:48 pm on April 29, 2008 (utc 0)