The value of Yahoo beyond its search
TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: Yahoo! holds its annual shareholder meeting today in San Jose. The investor pirate Carl Icahn won’t be attending. Icahn’s been trying to take control of Yahoo’s board. He wants the company sold — to Microsoft or somebody. But he’s backed off a bit and accepted board seats for himself and a couple friends. As for today’s meeting, should be interesting. From our Entrepreneurship Desk, Mitchell Hartman reports.
Mitchell Hartman: What’s your search engine? I asked folks outside a public library in Portland, Oregon.
Survey Montage: Google . . . Google . . . Google . . . Google . . . Google.
Not surprising, Yahoo’s search engine is a distant second to Google. But when I ask where they go for news and information, Yahoo’s right up there.
Survey Montage: I do Yahoo . . . New York Times . . . CNN News and Yahoo News.
Yahoo’s stock price has been languishing. It’s well below where it should be, says Standard and Poor’s Scott Kessler. He adds that the price is also well below what Microsoft offered in a bid rejected by Yahoo management. Still, Yahoo offers lots of value, starting with:
Scott Kessler: Half a billion monthly users of its site. That is the largest global network of Internet sites on the planet. Look, Yahoo is a leader, whether you think about e-mail, whether you think about finance, whether you think about instant messaging.
Shareholders, including Carl Icahn, want Yahoo management to do something with all that market strength. Today in San Jose, there’ll be no shortage of suggestions.
I’m Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
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