And, just breaking, a breathless call from a friend of mine that works at an investment bank's office in the Pacific Northwest, Panting Randy: "...They're out!".
I was tired of all of his unattributed news and rumors, but I had a sneaking suspicion that he was on to something, so I wanted attribution. I said, "I'm putting your name on this, brother Randy". He was intransigent, "oh no you don't, I'll get canned."
Bastard. Stupid Randy, the third tier gopher for investment bank X (who, by the way, is not retained by the principal parties), says that Microsoft is going to cool the deal, ostensibly due to the (un)anticipated exodus of key management from the Yahoo corporate body. Further, the brain drain encompasses noteworthy personnel that are, and he quotes, the twerp, "key to Yahoo's long term re-engineering plans to better integrate the visible internet properties."
Figure that one out. Who knew that Horowitz going to Google would be such a monkey wrench? It's almost as if Microsoft wanted to just pull their chain and catalyze these layoffs with some added heat.
Now then, Newscorp:
It is a great idea for Newscorp to bring in a little money (well, a lot, actually), and combine the Myspace property in the deal. Who better to rework the ugly, fugly MySpace, than Yahoo?
Indeed, Yahoo has the technical expertise to extend and optimize every aspect of MySpace, from cosmetics to performance, and integration with a phantasmagoria of Zimbra email goodness. I'm all for it. The Newscorp deal fits a comfortable valuation, brings in a property with true synergy, and brings that Juggernaut of MySpace to a partner (Yahoo), that can actually do something with it.
They have my blessing.
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