Yahoo sites remain as top Internet property in March

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) Inc.'s family of Web sites continued to lead as the top Internet property in March, with 139.5 million visitors, followed by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) sites with 137.5 million visitors and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) sites with 121 million visitors, according to results released Monday by comScore Inc. (NASDAQ:SCOR)

Overall, March saw traffic increase to online radio, gambling and retail-health care sites, comScore said.

'American sports factored in prominently for the top gaining categories and properties in March,' said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore
Media Metrix, in a news release. 'The NCAA tournament drove substantial traffic to online gambling sites during the month, while the start of spring training made MLB.com one of the top gaining properties. Both events also contributed to
ESPN.com's surge in the top properties rankings.'
ESPN.com is owned by Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DCQ) (NYSE:DIS)

Shares of Yahoo fell 34 cents to $27.99, Google shares dipped $6.90 to $450.60, Microsoft shares fell 26 cents to $28.06, and Disney shares lost 16 cents to $30.02.

money.cnn.com

Microsfot & Yahoo! Phone?

Speculation about what Microsoft could accomplish when they take over Yahoo! is already flying rampant, editors are going as far as hyping up a MicroHoo! phone and the takeover isn't official yet.

ZDNet are the pnes who came up with idea, a phone that would embrace Windows Mobile, Zune, 3G, WiFi and Yahoo's! online offering would probably be a hit, but such a phone would take allot of work and money to get out of the labs to the hands of consumers.

This idea won't catch on anytime soon, it'll take years in my view, plus, whats the real need for Yahoo! when all the top employees leave whenever Microsoft takeover? All Microsoft will have left is the technology that they can just have fun f***ing up
androideum.blogspot.com

Yahoo Japan embraces Silverlight for refined search experience

Yahoo Japan, the biggest website in the country, has decided that it will be using Silverlight to redefine the search experience. A gallery on Microsoft's website includes a video (Silverlight required of course) that demonstrates the new service quite well (and requires no Japanese to understand). The new search site will launch in the next few weeks.

Yahoo Japan won't stop there: the company hopes to use Silverlight in many of its Internet services, in addition to search. Microsoft is also boasting that an additional six other companies have decided Silverlight is worth their time: Madison Square Garden Interactive, Tencent, Abertis Telecom, Terra Networks Operations, SBSi, and MNet. In a statement, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Division at Microsoft, emphasized how important it was for Microsoft to have companies embrace Silverlight:

It’s exciting to see broad industry recognition and rapid adoption of Silverlight across the world. Silverlight offers customers and partners the highest quality creation and delivery of media, protected content, advertising and rich Internet applications, and we are committed to making it easy for partners to integrate and extend Silverlight capabilities.

At the same time, Microsoft has announced content protection support for Silverlight using various techniques: web and streaming playlists, authentication, authorization, stream encryption, and digital rights management (DRM). The latter, which is compatible with the popular (among companies) Windows Media DRM 10 content, is slated to be ready by the end of 2008.

Silverlight DRM, which has already found support from many companies, will support live streaming, on-demand streaming, and progressive downloads for connected experiences. Although many companies are slowly moving away from DRM, by offering the service right into the technology, Microsoft is opening doors for businesses that refuse to realize that their customers don't want it.

arstechnica.com

Higher Antitrust Bar For Yahoo & Google Partnership

WASHINGTON - Yahoo's attempt to form an alliance with Google to stave off Microsoft could run into more trouble with antitrust regulators than Microsoft's unwelcome takeover bid.

While Yahoo is seeking a business partnership with Google -- unlike the outright merger that Microsoft wants -- legal experts say any deal between the world's two largest Internet search services will draw heavy scrutiny from U.S. and European competition regulators.

"The Justice Department would certainly want to take a serious look at that because it would mean that a firm that would want to take advertisements or to place advertisements (online) would have only one place to go," said Aaron Edlin, who teaches law and economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

In recent years, Web search services have taken over from once popular portals or home pages, such as AOL, MSN or Yahoo's own home page, as the primary starting point for many consumers seeking information on the Internet.

Google held a 59.2% share of the U.S. Web search market in February, compared with Yahoo's 21.6% and Microsoft's 9.6%, according to research firm comScore.

To counter that dominance, Microsoft offered in January to buy Yahoo in a cash-and-stock deal now valued at $42 billion.

Yahoo rejects that price as too low and has been casting around for other partners. It announced last week a test to outsource search advertising to Google, which sources say is part of Yahoo's plans to form a three-way alliance with Time Warner's AOL to fend off Microsoft.

Antitrust experts said regulators would likely oppose any permanent alliance between Google and Yahoo, while they would likely approve Microsoft's proposed merger with Yahoo.

"A Yahoo/Microsoft merger would primarily be designed to attack Google," said Thomas Hazlett, who teaches law and economics at George Mason University in Virginia. "What you're seeing here is the sort of merger that has ... a plausible efficiency case."

FRAGMENTED MARKET

While Google dominates search, Yahoo argues the market for online display ads -- the splashy banners or video ads that companies love -- is so fragmented that Yahoo is the biggest player with just 8% of the market.

But the proposed cooperation between Google and Yahoo has already prompted congressional concern. The House Judiciary Committee announced it would take up the issues in upcoming hearings.

Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat and chair of a Senate antitrust panel, said he was watching the Google test.

"Should there be moves to make this agreement permanent, we will examine it closely in the antitrust subcommittee to ensure that it does not harm competition," Kohl said in a statement.

Kohl expressed concern about the rapid consolidation of formerly independent players in the Web advertising market.

A year ago, Google agreed to buy DoubleClick in a $3.4 billion deal that closed only last month. Microsoft paid $6 billion for aQuantive, Yahoo bought BlueLithium for $300 million and Time Warner Inc's AOL unit bought Tacoda for an undisclosed amount.

Gregory Sidak, founder of the economic consulting firm Criterion Economics, said U.S. regulators are likely to view the tech market as so dynamic and fast-changing that they will abstain from blocking any particular deal or joint venture in what appears to be an ultra-competitive industry.

But European regulators are generally more likely to act to block mergers than their U.S. counterparts.

"Europe poses a larger antitrust risk for any of the (Yahoo) deals," Sidak said.

In the absence of certainty, U.S. regulators tend to opt for less intervention rather than more.

The Justice Department, in particular, has a reputation for approving deals that antitrust experts consider suspect, most recently the merger of the only two U.S. satellite radio companies XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio.

"I think any company contemplating a merger or acquisition would want to get it through during the Bush administration," said Sidak, expressing a commonly held view in the legal community that, even if Republican nominee John McCain wins the 2008 election, there will be stricter controls.

"Even if McCain is elected, I think there's reason to believe they'll be some tightening of antitrust enforcement," he said.

Evan Stewart of law firm Spaeder Zuckerman LLP predicted that, when the dust settled on the various deal scenarios, Yahoo would lose its fight to stay independent, a view widely shared among Wall Street investors betting on the outcome.

There are "very creative investment bankers providing Yahoo with all these very different end-games," he said. "If you're hooked, eventually you're going to be dragged into the boat." (Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco; Editing by Andre Grenon)

informationweek.com

Zimbra Petition - Fight Microsoft !

Yahoo bought Zimbra in December for $350,000,000. The people who use Zimbra in their businesses are alarmed because the dominant force in this area, Microsoft, will own the rights to Zimbra when it buys Yahoo. As Zimbra technology competes directly with Microsoft's Exchange Server, Zimbra will likely be terminated. Zimbra users would have no choice

read more | digg story

Google hires controversial banker

Google has turned to one of the technology world's most controversial figures - once arrested and put on trial - for advice in the takeover battle between Microsoft and Yahoo.

Chief executive Eric Schmidt has reportedly called in newly formed investment group Qatalyst — headed by Silicon Valley banker Frank Quattrone. Quattrone, who has long associations with Google, is best known as the high-profile investment banker with Credit Suisse who was involved in some of the biggest stock market flotations of the 1990s internet boom — including Amazon and Netscape.

He has been dogged by controversy amid allegations that he was involved in boosting shares of companies he was advising. He was arrested in 2003 for obstruction of justice and was eventually convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. That conviction was overturned after an appeal and last year the last charges against him were dropped on condition that he does not break the law for a year.

His company, which was formed last month, will provide guidance to Google on the prospects for Microsoft's $42bn (£21bn) bid to buy Yahoo. With Yahoo resisting the approach, the deal is becoming increasingly complex. According to reports this week, the battle could even set the internet's biggest companies against one another — with Microsoft and News Corp potentially joining forces to take on an alliance of Yahoo, Google and AOL.

Quattrone is not the first controversial figure from the dotcom boom to go through rehabilitation and return to the industry. He joins former securities analyst Henry Blodget, who became notorious for his role in inflating the dotcom bubble. As an internet adviser at Merrill Lynch, Blodget was accused of playing up the prospects for stock in companies he was involved in, leading to a high-profile fraud case.

Although Blodget made a settlement in the case and was subsequently given a lifetime ban from working in the securities industry, he now runs a dotcom consultancy and is the founder of the influential Silicon Alley Insider news blog.

guardian.co.uk

Hear Yahoo's "Secret" Yodel

I remember a few years ago every time you used Yahoo Messenger you would hear the Yahoo "yodel" - that's the sound that they used to use back when Yahoo still had enough money to advertise on TV.

But did you know that you can still enjoy that old Yahoo "yodel" just by clicking on the magic spot at Yahoo.com?

To hear the old Yahoo Yodel sound, just click the center of the upper portion of the explanation point, or the dot at the bottom of the explanation point.

grownupgeek.com

Cracking the produce codes : Yahoo! Green

Good Info

read more | digg story

Yahoo Domains: What is the gain?

With everything you get from buying Yahoo Domains, and at this low a cost, how are they making any profit? Or is it for another reason.

Here is what Yahoo Domains offers at only $1.99 a year:

24-Hour Toll-Free Support
Get live help 24-7 or use our extensive online help resources.

Domain Locking
Help prevent domain hijackers from transferring your domain.

Starter Web Page
Publish a simple placeholder web page today! View a sample.

Domain Forwarding
Point your new domain name to a web site you already have. Private

Domain Registration
Help keep your contact info safe from spammers. Learn more.

Complete DNS Control
Easily edit your name servers, plus MX, A, and CNAME records.

This seems like an awful lot to get for the small price. However, reasearch shows the price has risen and fallen since Yahoo Domains was first introduced. That being said, what is the real gain for Yahoo? It's hard to beleive it's monitary. Can it gain Yahoo popularity over it's top competitor, Google? These are all possible...what do you think?

searchbliss-webmaster.blogspot

Yahoo Execs say Fear & Loating Over YHOO/AOL

For some reason, none of the half-dozen SVPs and EVPs I spoke to, who attended a lunch that Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang held yesterday for several dozen top-level execs, wanted to tell me exactly what was on the menu, because they did not want to reveal that kind of precise detail.

Fish sticks? Corn dogs? A lovely club sandwich with applewood bacon? No dice!

But no one could stop talking about the unhappiness they felt over the possible deal Yang was concocting with AOL (TWX), as an alternate to the unsolicited bid made by Microsoft (MSFT).

And they don’t like Yahoo even pursuing it as a means to get Microsoft to pay more, because it could threaten that deal, which could result in Microsoft pulling out and Yahoo stock plummeting.

“It is a very dangerous game of chicken,” said one. “And Yahoo has never been really good at that anyway.”

To be fair, after talking to dozens of employees at all levels of the company, I have found overall feelings are genuinely mixed about a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo too–they like the muscle, money and mass Microsoft brings, but are nervous to become employees of the controversial company.

But, so far, no one I have talked to wants Yahoo to hook up with AOL, including everyone I spoke to yesterday who was at the lunch, all of whom consider the Time Warner property slow-moving, weak in technology and saddled with a largely dispirited staff.

“We have enough problems without getting theirs, which are much worse,” said one exec. “No one here, except Jerry and the board, has any enthusiasm for it.”

Added another: “I cannot believe they would put our amazing assets with those who we don’t really respect, for the most part, and think that’s OK.”

And a third: “We are tired of all the noise and the angling [of this takeover] and most of us just want something to get done… This is completely distracting for employees and makes it hard to manage the big businesses we all have.”

Thus, the overall impression I carried away from my interviews? Extreme Takeover: Fatigue Edition.

Still, apparently no one explicitly voiced their concerns to Yang at the lunch, which has become a regular gathering he has been holding with top-level talent for several months now.

Instead, yesterday’s lunch topics included many things, including discussion of retention packages that are being used at Yahoo to keep valued employees from bolting, which have become an important tool over the last several months.

In addition, Yang went over some other HR issues, as well as stressing how top managers should handle messaging to the troops. (Use that old catch-all: “We are exploring all our options.”)

Yang did talk about the AOL deal, in general terms, said those in attendance, noting that the combination of Yahoo’s and AOL’s online display advertising made for a strong offering. He also praised AOL’s ad network and how it would be more powerful integrated with Yahoo’s.

(And one bright spot that everyone mentioned was AOL’s recent acquisition of Bebo, which Yahoo also looked at. But everyone also thought AOL had egregiously overpaid for the third-ranked social-networking site, which they hoped would not impact relative valuation between the companies.)

But, so far, the troops remain solidly dubious and hope for a better outcome than a mashup with AOL.

“Look, Microsoft would not be my first choice either,” said one exec, who noted, like a lot of others, that both companies did bring lots of important traffic to Yahoo. “But AOL is not even my third.”

kara.allthingsd.com

Desperate for engineers, Yahoo pays $6,000 bounty

Yahoo's online-advertising platform, codenamed Project Apex and now known as AMP, needs more manpower. Now a tipster tells us that management has raised the hiring bonus for new engineers on the project to $6,000. But the project's budget still needs more cash for hardware:

AMP is not a desktop app. To demonstrate its basic features AMP requires a hundred machines working together at a time, not counting the database server farms. How can they say the schedule wont slip when they have 20 percent less hardware and people they need to do the job. Working longer hours only goes so far.

One big reason they may have trouble hiring people to work on AMP: Microsoft has all but said it will scrap Yahoo's advertising systems for its own technology.
valleywag.com

Yahoo Messenger Hidden Emoticons

There are emoticons that are not in yahoo messenger emoticon menu. These emoticons are hidden and for display them , you need to write special code for each emoticon. Come and see all hidden emoticons in yahoo messenger and their secret codes.

read more | digg story

Yahoo Plans Meetings With Microsoft And Time Warner

“Yahoo’s board met Friday to evaluate Microsoft’s takeover bid…(and authorized) the company’s management to continue meeting with Microsoft and with Time Warner. Both are expected to be scheduled for next week.” If you’re following the countdown to judgement day, Yahoo still has about 14 days or so until Ballmer goes proxy on Yang’s ass.

read more | digg story

Is Google playing a game?

Google Adsense has been down since last night. And Their Ads refused to show on most websites. Is it playing catch up Yahoo in an attempt to foil from Microsoft Buy Out?

WHAT'S THE DEAL???

Following is the status till now!!!

The Google AdSense website is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later.
We apologize for any inconvenience.

Google AdSense の web サイトは一時的にご利用いただけません。後で再度お試しくださいますようお願いいたします。
お手数をおかけいたしますことをお詫びいたします。

Die Google AdSense-Website ist vorübergehend nicht verfügbar. Bitte versuchen Sie es später noch einmal.
Wir entschuldigen uns für eventuell enstandene Unannehmlichkeiten.

Le site Google AdSense est temporairement indisponible. Veuillez réessayer plus tard.
Nous vous prions de nous excuser pour le désagrément occasionné.

El sitio web de AdSense de Google no se encuentra disponible en estos momentos. Por favor, inténtelo de nuevo más tarde.
Disculpe las molestias.

Google AdSense 网站暂时无法浏览。请您稍候再尝试。
对于造成您的不便我们感到抱歉。

Il sito AdSense di Google è temporaneamente non disponibile. La preghiamo di provare più tardi.
Ci scusiamo per il disagio.

De website van Google AdSense is tijdelijk niet beschikbaar. Probeert u het later opnieuw.
Onze excuses voor het eventuele ongemak.

Google AdSense Sayfası geçici olarak hizmet dışıdır. Lütfen, daha sonra tekrar deneyin.
Bu geçici sorundan dolayı özür dileriz.

O site do Google AdSense não está disponível no momento. Tente novamente mais tarde.
Pedimos desculpas pelo inconveniente.

The Google AdSense website is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later.
We apologise for any inconvenience.

Witryna programu Google AdSense jest chwilowo niedostępna. Prosimy spróbuj później.
Przepraszamy za wszelkie niedogodności.

Веб-сайт Google AdSense временно недоступен. Попробуйте, пожалуйста, еще раз через несколько минут.
Мы приносим свои извинения за причиненные неудобства.

Google AdSense webbplats är för tillfället inte tillgänglig. Försök igen senare.
Vi ber om ursäkt för eventuellt besvär.

Google AdSense-webstedet er ikke tilgængeligt i øjeblikket. Prøv igen senere.
Vi beklager ulejligheden.

Google AdSense 웹사이트를 일시적으로 사용하실 수 없습니다 . 나중에 다시 시도해 보십시오 .
불편을 끼쳐드려 죄송합니다 .

Google AdSense-webområdet er midlertidig utilgjengelig. Prøv igjen senere.
Vi beklager eventuelle problemer dette medfører.

Google AdSense 網站暫時無法瀏覽。請您稍候再嘗試。
對於造成您的不便我們感到抱歉。

A Google AdSense oldal jelenleg nem elérhető. Kérjük, látogasson vissza később.
Elnézést kérünk az esetleges kellemetlenségekért.

Google AdSense –sivusto ei väliaikaisesti ole saatavilla. Yritä myöhemmin uudelleen.
Pahoittelemme tämän aiheuttamaa hankaluutta.

Stránka Google AdSense je dočasně nedostupná. Zkuste to později.
Omlouváme se za způsobené nepříjemnosti.

Stránka Google AdSense je dočasne nedostupná. Skúste neskôr, prosím.
Ospravedlňujeme sa za spôsobené nepríjemnosti.

Google AdSense sučelje trenutno je nedostupno. Molimo Vas pokušajte kasnije.
Ispričavamo se za neugodnosti.

إن موقع Google AdSense غير متوفر حاليا. يرجى تكرار المحاولة لاحقا. نعتذر عن أي إزعا

אתר Google AdSense איננו זמין כרגע. אנו מצטערים על אי הנוחות. אנא נסה שנית מאוחר יותר.

Google AdSense уебсайта е временно недостъпен. Моля опитайте по-късно. Извиняваме се за неудобството.

Η ιστοσελίδα του Google AdSense δεν είναι διαθέσιμη προς το παρόν. Παρακαλώ δοκιμάστε αργότερα. Ζητούμε συγγνώμη για την ενόχληση.

google.com

Google gains from Yahoo-Microsoft takeover drama

Microsoft's unwanted courtship of Yahoo is spinning into a dramatic soap opera that analysts say is playing into the hands of Internet search king Google.

While the US software giant says Google's dominance online is the reason it is eager to buy Yahoo, the California firm's efforts to stave off Microsoft leave Google free to concentrate on strengthening its grip on the market.

"Our big take-away now is that as the situation gets more muddled with more participants and more uncertainty, it seems to solidify Google's standing in the industry," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown told AFP.

A series of Yahoo maneuvers aimed at rebuffing Microsoft were announced or leaked this week, while the software giant may also be upping its game.

On Thursday a report surfaced that Microsoft is exploring an alliance with News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Terms of a possible deal include News Corp. contributing cash to help Microsoft buy Yahoo, and then adding its popular social networking website MySpace to the resulting Internet entity.

Such an alliance would be an abrupt change of sides for News Corp., which was among possible "white knights" that Yahoo reached out to for salvation after Microsoft came on strong with a 44.6-billion-dollar offer February 1.

News Corp. also has a long-term deal with Google to host online advertising at MySpace.

Yahoo, meanwhile, is apparently seeking help from longtime rival Google, whose dominance in Internet advertising is among the reasons Yahoo's share of the market have been eroding.

Yahoo announced Wednesday it will launch a limited, two-week test of Google's AdSense for Search service, which essentially means it will be checking how much better Google is at generating cash from online advertising.

Analysts agree that a significant alliance between Google and Yahoo would be squashed by US regulators because the companies combined would control some 90 percent of the online search ad market.

"The company that would clearly want to come to the rescue is Google but they know the regulators would just go nuclear if they did that," Gartner analyst Van Baker said.

Unofficial word has spread that Yahoo is also nearing a deal with Time Warner's America Online to combine the two struggling companies' Internet operations and thwart Microsoft's takeover effort.

Time Warner would reportedly merge AOL into Yahoo and pay for a 20 percent ownership of the combined company.

Yahoo would reportedly use the cash to buy back shares from some of the very stockholders Microsoft is threatening to woo in an effort to have Yahoo's board of directors ousted and replaced with people amenable to the takeover.

Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle agrees that Google benefits while its two closest rivals duel but says that Google might have reason to worry.

Microsoft has a 1.6 percent stake in fast-growing social networking website Facebook. A tie-up with MySpace, while a bit awkward, would give Microsoft footholds in two top social networking properties.

If Yahoo makes an alliance with AOL and then is bought by Microsoft, the combined resources span a formidable swath of hot websites.

"Microsoft and Yahoo might not be a threat to Google, but you throw Murdoch in the mix and that is a credible threat," Enderle said. "The chance Microsoft could pull it off could be what keeps Google up at night. It's scary."

Microsoft is betting that by combining with Yahoo, it can gain ground on Google.

"I think Yahoo genuinely doesn't want to merge with Microsoft," Baker said.

"They think it will be bad for the employees and bad for the industry, and I don't disagree with that."

Yahoo on Monday rejected a three-week deadline from Microsoft to accept the takeover but said it is open to a sweetened bid from the software giant or another bidder.

"I think this is inevitable," Baker said of a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo.

"I'm just very concerned Microsoft will screw it up and we will end up with Google controlling 90 percent of the ad business anyway and that Yahoo culture is going to evaporate."
teentweens.blogspot.com

Did you know DISNEY considered a Yahoo! Acquisition?

Fortune Magazine) -- At a time of upheaval in the media business, Walt Disney has had a string of hits the likes of which it hasn't had since, well, the early tenure of former CEO Michael Eisner in the 1980s. Three years after succeeding Eisner - and confounding skeptics in the process - CEO Bob Iger talked to Fortune's Richard Siklos about buying Pixar, pulling Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) out of a creative slump with new megafranchises like "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical," working with Steve Jobs, and wrestling with the image of a certain mouse. Edited excerpts:

Around the time you became CEO, there was a widely held view that Disney's brand had become dated. When did this issue first hit your radar?

It was in Michael's later tenure that we realized we had some brand issues. There were some speed bumps, so to speak, creatively. There was a perception that there was too much Disney product in the marketplace. And by the way, the combination of lack of quality and too much product is really deadly. And there was a sense that our audience was young and that Disney products couldn't be of interest to older kids. The other thing was that the brand was more tied to the Disney heritage than it was to relevance and innovation.

One of your messages is there's now a "Disney difference" that sets it apart from other media companies - and that difference is your ability to take franchises like "Hannah Montana," which was launched on TV, and move them across different platforms, like the recent "Hannah Montana 3-D" concert film.

This is a company that does not revolve around a movie studio; we have multiple creative engines. "High School Musical" is probably one of the best recent examples. I was in Hong Kong recently, and I pulled into a parking lot and there were 150 cast members there rehearsing for a performance that we're now showing five times a day at Hong Kong Disneyland. We have versions of "High School Musical" under way in India, Russia, and other markets.

Certainly you have plenty of that synergy in the marketing sense also.

If you asked [Walt Disney Pictures head] Dick Cook the single most important way for him to market a movie - it's on the Disney Channel. Interestingly enough, we don't take commercials on the Disney Channel, but there is an exclusive sponsor, and it's Disney.

Let's stick with "High School Musical," because after two highly successful cable movies, it's being made into a feature film. How is a decision like that made, and are there sore feelings from the Disney Channel folks?

You do want what I'll call some business chauvinism - you want people to believe in their businesses and fight for them. But you want to understand in the end that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Now, there's always politics in companies. But the walls between the businesses are much thinner and much lower than they used to be.

One of the decisions you made was to change the approach to managing these big franchises.

That was the result of a belief that these great character franchises were all brands unto themselves. But nobody was really managing those brands, and decisions were being made in a vacuum. So if we determine that "Toy Story" is a real franchise for the company, then "Toy Story" should get made. Now, you still have to have a great story and great execution - and in the absence of that, you shouldn't make it. And not everything has to be a franchise. I was recently asked whether "Ratatouille" was a franchise. I said no: "Ratatouille" is an extremely good animated film and will be a classic unto itself, but it is not a franchise. You are not going to see "Ratatouille" attractions in parks. When you look at "Toy Story," we're making our third film, we're opening two Toy Story Mania attractions at parks this summer, we have a very strong consumer products line, we have a "Toy Story" musical opening on the cruise line, we have a game in development - that's a franchise.

How does it work?

We get together about every six weeks with the heads of the Disney business units. Sometimes we'll even focus on a market - say, what's going on in Japan with Pooh? We've also created financial metrics to track them against each franchise so we can see what's going on financially. If we see a trend that is worrisome - or the opposite - we bring it up at this meeting. We also have creative champions for all of these franchises. Even though "High School Musical" is being made for the studio, the creative champions are the Disney Channel folks Rich Ross and Gary Marsh - and they're working very closely with the studio people. Similarly, the studio is the arbiter of taste when it comes to "Pirates," Pixar is the arbiter for "Toy Story" and "Cars," and so on.

Are Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh still the company's largest franchises?

Yes.

So who at Disney owns those franchises?

I do. It sounds funny, but I'm the steward of the Mickey brand, which in a way is the steward of the Disney brand. We're actually having an interesting discussion about Mickey. I'm not the only voice. John Lasseter from Pixar has taken a real interest.

Mickey does seem overly nostalgic.

If you read about Walt and his history with Mickey, he struggled with the same stuff in the 1930s - that Mickey had become too sanitized. You're talking about an unbelievable franchise in the billions of dollars for a character that is 80 years old. But we'd like to grow it.

One competitor said to me that by putting less emphasis on animation you are diminishing the company's core brand strength and legacy.

There's no question that animation is a great wavemaker for the company. We believe we have a very vibrant creative engine there, mostly driven by Pixar, and we hope that Disney Animation will once again experience glory days too. We believe we're on the right track. But you raise something interesting that I deal with a lot. When you deal with a company that has a great legacy, you deal with decisions and conflicts that arise from the clash of heritage versus innovation versus relevance. I'm a big believer in respect for heritage, but I'm also a big believer in the need to innovate and the need to balance that respect for heritage with a need to be relevant.

The film "Enchanted" - which integrated but also parodied some Disney cartoon characters - is an example of that.

A very good example of that. It's interesting as it relates to Mickey. I love classic Mickey, but to kids today, classic Mickey is meaningless. They want modern Mickey, but what is that? If you just keep it in the past, it typically doesn't survive the present.

You recently produced your first feature film in China, "The Magic Gourd," for that market, and you have your first Indian production, "Roadside Romeo," set for release. Is it still a surprise or disappointment that after all your efforts to expand the Disney brand and business globally, the international unit still generates only 20-odd percent of your overall revenue?

The initial goal was to be bigger, but we made a big mistake: We made a lot more money in the U.S. ESPN grew more than we expected, ABC turned around, and Walt Disney World recovered from 2001. The growth internationally has probably been bigger off a lower base, but unfortunately - or fortunately - the businesses in the U.S. did better proportionately. We're also shifting our look at the world a lot. People have been misled by that access to new markets to think that there is a homogeneous, one-world culture. We've discovered that pride in local culture and demand to own it is much greater than we had previously thought.

An interesting thing about your efforts to revitalize the Disney brands is that you turned to an outside company, Pixar - and, it seems, largely left it alone.

A major priority when we did the deal was to protect their culture. But we also wanted to give Pixar a much broader canvas to paint on. Before we did the deal, we had gotten to the point when there was tension in the relationship, and it was almost impossible to accomplish what we wanted. Now that we're one company, it's much easier. I just played an alpha [test] version of the "Cars" virtual online world. I would say that if we had not done the deal, "Cars" would have been the last movie that we made with Pixar, and we couldn't have created this virtual world. And even if we had, we wouldn't have had John Lasseter sitting at the table with our Internet guys developing it.

What's your relationship with Steve Jobs, who as a result of the Pixar deal is on Disney's board and your largest shareholder? There was an initial reaction that somehow he was going to take over.

We talk about once a week on average, sometimes just to say hello, sometimes to ask his advice. We don't have to agree on everything, but the value of that advice to the company is enormous. And I am lucky to have access to a lot of Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) product. Yes, I was one of the first kids on my block to have the MacBook Air. People are aware that Steve tends to be opinionated, which is misconstrued as being bad - I actually think it's a good thing because it provides perspective. We've always embraced technology, but thanks to Steve we've done even more. A lot of media companies see technology as more foe than friend. I want the opposite at this company.

Since becoming CEO you've done one big deal, Pixar, and some smaller, including virtual world Club Penguin and a stake in Indian broadcaster UTV. Do you think the time for big media deals is over?

I don't rule out something large, but it doesn't mean something is looming. Nothing is. We kick tires, big and little. It's something Steve and I have talked about a lot fairly recently, including Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) - not post-Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) but pre-Microsoft. We make decisions based on whether something is a good fit for the company. [At press time Time Warner's (TWX, Fortune 500) AOL and Yahoo were in talks about combining their Internet operations; News Corp. and Microsoft, meanwhile, were considering a joint bid for Yahoo. Time Warner is Fortune's parent company.]

Why was Yahoo not a good fit?

It's an interesting business but expensive for us, and I don't know that we necessarily brought anything to the table in terms of management expertise. We're trying to stay away from what I'll call distribution. You can argue whether that's distribution or content - it's probably a little of both.

Over the past five years - April 11, 2003, to April 10, 2008 - Disney is up 77%, versus 56% for the S&P 500. For the past year - April 11, 2007, to April 10, 2008 - Disney is down nearly 12%, versus a drop of 6% for the S&P. Some of it is analysts wondering if you can keep up the hits. But it also seems as though Disney is facing a double whammy: the technology issues facing media companies, plus the fear that the theme-park business will be hurt by the economy. Does the Disney difference shield it from those issues?

Strength, creativity, and a product that is in demand are good things. Also, through some very deliberate moves from a divestiture perspective, only 20% of our revenues now come from advertising - we sold radio and did not buy more television stations the way many of our competitors did. At our parks, we've worked very hard to create a competitive advantage. If families are going to go on a vacation, they're likely to either come to us first or abandon us last. I don't think it would be fair to say that we're recession-proof, but we're much more resilient than our competitors.
nobosh.com

Yahoo Maps: More Color, More Zoom

Not to be left out of the Friday map fun, Yahoo has made its biggest update to its imagery database since Yahoo Maps began. Most of the update consists of the US content, because after adding in global images for some time now, Yahoo’s ready to focus on pushing out updated content for its US maps.

The back-drop data for a handful of states including California, New York, and Oregon has been improved, along with a few more states from the Midwest. For actual state maps, the color and clarity has been upped. If you want to get a better look at your map content, the Yahoo maps now zoom two levels deeper for aerial and satellite imagery for hundreds of cities in the US. That means more detail, and ultimately more useful map mashups, right? Right.

Google spent the better half of last year making similar updates to its maps, on a global scale. But who’s keeping tabs on the mapping arms race?

mashable.com

Microsoft screams Anti-trust on Search Advertising!

Appearantly Microsoft had this to say after Yahoo decided to test Adsense along side their search results:

“Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options.”

Hold up… Microsoft is saying that a definitive agreement would consolidate over 90% of Search Advertising… making it far less competitive? And this is coming from a company that has had a monopoly of Operating systems and the Internet Browser Market for how long?

Appearantly Microsoft had this to say after Yahoo decided to test Adsense along side their search results:

“Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options.”

Hold up… Microsoft is saying that a definitive agreement would consolidate over 90% of Search Advertising… making it far less competitive? And this is coming from a company that has had a monopoly of Operating systems and the Internet Browser Market for how long?

blur101.com

Will Yahoo! Protect Open Source Assets?

On Friday, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer sent a letter to Yahoo!’s board of directors informing them that time was running out for the Yahoo! board to accept a buyout offer from Microsoft. The nature and tone of the letter may betray Microsoft’s true intentions with regards to Yahoo!’s properties and raises some serious concerns.

When the initial buyout offer was made, Microsoft was in the midst of making nice with the open source community. It was suggested that Microsoft was playing nice with open source folks not so much because of their problems with the EU, but to help ease the Yahoo! takeover. Based on the tone of the letter from Balmer to Yahoo!, it looks like the gloves have come off and Microsoft has come out swinging.

In his letter to Yahoo!, Balmer warns that continued stalling by the current executives may lead to a hostile takeover bid whereby Microsoft would appeal directly to Yahoo!’s board to elect officers that would approve the deal. Whereas Microsoft spun the initial offer as a good thing for both companies, offering shareholders a 60+% premium on the share price, the rapid move towards a hostile takeover could have serious consequences for the open source community.

Microsoft is pressuring Yahoo!’s board to take quick action or face a proxy battle, because it can. Late last month after Microsoft’s initial bid and Yahoo!’s initial rejection, Yahoo!’s board as well as financial analysts were underwhelmed with presentations made to the board by Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang’s team outlining their vision of Yahoo!’s “true value” ahead of their upcoming financial report.
Yahoo!’s reliance on open source technology and their participation in the open source community stand little chance of helping to foster a more open source friendly attitude at Microsoft if Yahoo! is rushed into a badly thought out deal with Microsoft to appease stockholders.

The Yahoo!/Microsoft merger is going to be a major test of whether public companies that rely on open source technology have a net benefit for the open source community. Will Microsoft kill Zimbra, the open source mail server company Yahoo! recently acquired that competes directly against Microsoft Exchange? What will happen to YUI, Yahoo!’s open source JavaScript user interface? Will it just become a Visual Studio plugin? Both Yahoo!’s and Micorosoft’s handling of these issues will shape open source attitudes towards enterprise participants for many years to come. This will affect not only Yahoo! and Microsoft, but Google, Amazon and countless others big and small as well.

Will Yahoo!’s existing company bylaws, their board, voting shareholders or executives seek to protect open source resources during the merger or will it all be about the money?

ostatic.com

Yahoo! Hits Homerun with MLB.TV

Yahoo! and MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM) inked a three-year video and advertising partnership that will make MLB.TV available on Yahoo! Sports, bringing Yahoo! users more than 2,400 out-of-market Major League Baseball games each year, live and on-demand, through the 2010 season.

Yahoo! Sports will offer MLB.TV to fans in 11 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Philippines and Germany. The games will be available through a co-branded player on Yahoo! Sports and MLB.com. During the first year of the deal, Yahoo! and MLBAM will jointly sell advertising for the video inventory. For the remaining two years of the agreement, Yahoo! will be solely responsible for selling video advertising inventory for MLB.TV.

thebloggingtimes.com