Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 16
Google's new Friend Connect initiative is in trouble. On May 15, Facebook effectively pulled out of participation in Google Friend Connect service, which links social networks and traditional Web sites. "Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance," according to Facebook.
My take: Facebook just realized just how dangerous Friend Connect is. The service lets Google know which social networks and friends users interact with. That could eventually allow Google to lure away advertisers from social networks.
Alas, Facebook isn't stupid. It was the only non-Google property to participate in Friend Connect. Now that it's pulled out, the initiative turns into nothing more than yet another way to link fellow Google properties. And that turns a cool project into a blah project.
Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 16
On May 19, Philadelphia City Councilman Bill Green will address his local chapter of global wireless networking group Mobile Monday. The title of his speech: "Why and how Philadelphia must react to EarthLink’s pullout." As you'll recall, EarthLink announced this week that it will can the nation's largest muni Wi-Fi hotspot.
What I thought was interesting is that reps from Motorola, AT&T and several other wireless technology companies are going to be present at that meeting, as panelists for a discussion on mobility and enterprise. Could Green be hoping that AT&T, or another company will take the muni Wi-Fi project on, now that EarthLink doesn't want it? Perhaps.
Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 16
Time to play let's pretend. Assume that Carl Icahn wins his proxy fight and installs his board at Yahoo! with the express intent of selling the company to Microsoft. But what if Microsoft, which does not currently have an offer on the table, isn't interested, even at $31 or $33 a share?
I don't think this is all that far-fetched. Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer withdrew the offer to buy Yahoo! both because he faced serious opposition to the purchase within his own executive ranks and because of doubts about the damage a proxy fight would do to the company he was acquiring. Both those concerns still apply, even it it is Icahn leading the proxy fight rather than Ballmer.
Though I doubt there would be many tears shed if Icahn and the arbs get burned on this deal, it could leave Yahoo! in truly desperate straits: owned by shareholders who don't want it and no one interested in buying. Sort of like AOL.
Posted by: Rob Hof on May 15
Just hours after billionaire financier Carl Icahn launched a battle to replace Yahoo’s board and get the Internet icon back into talks with onetime suitor Microsoft, Yahoo has fired back. In a letter to Icahn (full text after the jump), Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock disputed Icahn's characterization in a letter early today of Yahoo's aborted talks with Microsoft as "completely botched" and said Yahoo's current board remains the most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo! shareholders."
In the letter, Bostock also said it's not in shareholders' interest to allow "you and your hand-picked nominees" to take control only to try to force a sale to a company that has walked away. And Yahoo for the first time goes into considerable detail about the negotiations with Microsoft, disputing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's claim that Yahoo didn't negotiate in good faith.
Bostock closes the letter by saying Yahoo's board looks forward to a "productive dialogue." With a corporate raider? Should be interesting.
And so the soap opera winds on....
Here's my analysis, and after the jump, Bostock's letter:
Continue reading "Yahoo Fires Back at Icahn: Carl, You Ignorant Slut..."
Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 15
If there is one person in the world who would seem to have reason to be grateful to Yahoo!, it's Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. After all, it was Yahoo! that, in 1999, paid Cuban and his investors $5.9 billion for Broadcast.com. Still, Cuban has never been noted for his tact and it was only mildly surprising to see him turn up on Carl Icahn's alternative slate of directors on his proxy fight for Yahoo!.
A somewhat more surprising name was Impact Venture Partners managing partner Adam Dell. The bio supplied by Icahn omitted one salient fact about Dell: He is Dell CEO Michael Dell's brother. Adam Dell is, of course, his own man and has no direct connection to Dell Inc., but he did recently sell his mail services startup MessageOne to the company that bears his name for $155 million.
