5 ms·

This is a genuine question: where is Yahoo getting all this money from? I think the average internet-goer (myself included) would probably be surprised to hear

by Osmium 12y ago

This is a genuine question: where is Yahoo getting all this money from? I think the average internet-goer (myself included) would probably be surprised to hear they're profitable enough to have made so many large purchases recently...

meritt 12y ago
Yahoo owns about 24% of Alibaba, a company that's worth ~$150B (varies widely on who you talk to). They are reducing their position by 5-10%, which translates into anywhere from $5B to $20B in cash.
- revelation 12y ago
  Now thats a smart move, reduce your stake in one of the strongest growth stories ever to buy a struggling analytics company.
  - fleitz 12y ago
    I think you're ignoring brand synergy. Flurry is a perfect fit brand-wise. What's the point of having a 3rd rate photo sharing service if you don't have 3rd rate analytics to go with it, and who wants growth when the rest of the company is dying?
  - discardorama 12y ago
    The reduction in stake was a long-term agreement between the two. Yahoo has no choice but to sell. Keeping in mind the hotness of $BABA, they've re-negotiated the deal and now have permission to sell only ~140M shares at IPO, instead of the earlier agreed-upon ~230M.
dshanahan 12y ago
They make $1B+ a quarter, have 2B in the bank and the stake in Alibaba should result in a large cash influx.
gcb0 12y ago
they are always well above water. valley does not like them because they dont grow as fast as other smaller companies and they are boring. ie they are more like GE than a startup.
- normloman 12y ago
  They me be above water, but mostly due to their stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan (an entirely separate company). Whatever Yahoo actually does isn't making a lot of money, and appears to have negative value in the market. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-17/is-yahoo-s-business-worth-less-than-nothing http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-17/is-yahoo-s-...
shawndumas 12y ago
It's got more traffic than everyone except Google (and YouTube.com) and Facebook [1]. And they have a top 5 site for 8 of the 17 categories [2]. [fd -- yahoo employee] ---- [1]: http://www.alexa.com/topsites http://www.alexa.com/topsites [2]: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category
- Osmium 12y ago
  That's really interesting. Not doubting the numbers necessarily, but does Alexa still get its numbers from browser toolbars, making it somewhat biased?
  - shawndumas 12y ago
    Google Display Network Ad Planner rates Yahoo 3rd [1] (but does not count itself but does include YouTube so ...) ---- [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites
  - benologist 12y ago
    http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/alexa-overhauls-ranking-system/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/alexa-overhauls-ranking-sys...
discardorama 12y ago
Yahoo had a gross profit of $3.3B in the last year, and has $2.74B in the bank. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=YHOO+Key+Statistics http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=YHOO+Key+Statistics

by Osmium 12y ago

meritt 12y ago

Yahoo owns about 24% of Alibaba, a company that's worth ~$150B (varies widely on who you talk to). They are reducing their position by 5-10%, which translates into anywhere from $5B to $20B in cash.

revelation 12y ago
Now thats a smart move, reduce your stake in one of the strongest growth stories ever to buy a struggling analytics company.
- fleitz 12y ago
  I think you're ignoring brand synergy. Flurry is a perfect fit brand-wise. What's the point of having a 3rd rate photo sharing service if you don't have 3rd rate analytics to go with it, and who wants growth when the rest of the company is dying?
- discardorama 12y ago
  The reduction in stake was a long-term agreement between the two. Yahoo has no choice but to sell. Keeping in mind the hotness of $BABA, they've re-negotiated the deal and now have permission to sell only ~140M shares at IPO, instead of the earlier agreed-upon ~230M.

dshanahan 12y ago

They make $1B+ a quarter, have 2B in the bank and the stake in Alibaba should result in a large cash influx.

gcb0 12y ago

they are always well above water. valley does not like them because they dont grow as fast as other smaller companies and they are boring. ie they are more like GE than a startup.

normloman 12y ago
They me be above water, but mostly due to their stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan (an entirely separate company). Whatever Yahoo actually does isn't making a lot of money, and appears to have negative value in the market. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-17/is-yahoo-s-business-worth-less-than-nothing http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-17/is-yahoo-s-...

shawndumas 12y ago

It's got more traffic than everyone except Google (and YouTube.com) and Facebook [1]. And they have a top 5 site for 8 of the 17 categories [2]. [fd -- yahoo employee] ---- [1]: http://www.alexa.com/topsites http://www.alexa.com/topsites [2]: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category

Osmium 12y ago
That's really interesting. Not doubting the numbers necessarily, but does Alexa still get its numbers from browser toolbars, making it somewhat biased?
- shawndumas 12y ago
  Google Display Network Ad Planner rates Yahoo 3rd [1] (but does not count itself but does include YouTube so ...) ---- [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_websites
- benologist 12y ago
  http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/alexa-overhauls-ranking-system/ http://techcrunch.com/2008/04/16/alexa-overhauls-ranking-sys...

discardorama 12y ago

Yahoo had a gross profit of $3.3B in the last year, and has $2.74B in the bank. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=YHOO+Key+Statistics http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=YHOO+Key+Statistics