Microsoft is turning into quite the hussy. Shortly after breaking up with Yahoo! before they even officially dated, Microsoft has been seen holding hands with Facebook…. and they might even kiss.

I never liked the proposed Yahoo merger. This one, however, might have legs.

Firstly, lets ignore the $15 billion valuation that Facebook claimed to have in October. That number is just silly. Facebook is still a new kid on the block, they’re still working on a business model that will work in the long run.

Although it is still growing like vile weed, I have noticed that fewer and fewer people on my Facebook account update their profiles in a regular basis. Facebook could just be an Internet trend. A flash in the pan. Not a $15 billion dollar company.

Microsoft could bring a lot of help to ensure that Facebook becomes a long term juggernaut on the Internet. They have the reach, the knowledge, the experience and most importantly, they are just as evil.

Facebook has built a reputation for having poor privacy controls and whoring out users to advertisers. Microsoft has a reputation for whoring out user’s rights to media lobbies. Together they can ruin your online experience and share it with the world.

Seriously though, these two firms would benefit from each other. Microsoft would gain a growing Internet database of consumer information, Facebook would get a grownup to steer it in the right direction.

I say go for it! 

A couple of quickies on Bell Canada Enterprises this morning:

-BCE Reported “steady” earrings for the first quarter. Net profit came in at 258M compared to 499M a year earlier. Adjusted EPS (earnings per share) at $0.57 actually topped Thomson’s analyst poll of $0.54. Translation: We took no risks and didn’t mess up.

1. -Investment Bank Genuity Capital is predicting the BCE takeover is will close. No surprises there as this has been the market’s view since the courts gave the bond holders the big heave ho. [via Seeking Alpha, CBC]

One of the hallmarks of a healthy economy and equity market is a strong Mergers and Acquisitions sector. Nothing gets bulls running like one company devouring another. This is true even when one of the companies is helpless and injured (see Bear Sterns).

Today we learn that there are rumors that T-Mobile is looking into combining with Sprint. Although in the US Sprint is the larger company, T-Mobie’s German parent Deutsche Telekom AG could easily handle the required costs. Sprint has been struggling financially of late, having its credit rating cut to junk status by Standard & Poors last week.

If successful, the new entity would represnet the largest wireless company in the US.

Looks like my earlier prediction was right. Microsoft Corp. has pulled its bid to purchase Yahoo! Inc. for $33 a share. The deal is dead.

The market, to no surprise, doesn’t like the news and shares for Yahoo have plunged 21% in pre-market trading. Bloomberg reports that Citigroup Inc. has downgraded the stock to a “sell” after the news came out.

Yahoo’s future is not as bleak as some apparently want to believe. It is still  arguably the #1 or at worst #2 brand on the Internet. They are currently rumored to be in talks with with Google to iron out an advertising deal, and there are also rumors of a possible deal with AOL Time Warner.

I’m sure this is not the last time we’ll be discussing Yahoo! mergers this year.

Looks like my wish is coming true. The weekend passed without a deal to merge Microsoft and Yahoo.

Even though it is still possible for Microsoft to initiate a hostile takeover bid, the issue seems have simmered down over the weekend and does not look very likely.

I didn’t see this one coming. Roast Beef purveyor Arby’s parent company is buying Wendy’s for $2.34 billion, and a mountain of curly fries.

Here’s where things get weird and wonderful.

- Wendy’s International has a market capitalization of about $2.2 billion USD (market cap is simply the value of the company based on share price multiplied by # of shares outstanding)

- Arby’s parent company Triarc Cos. has a market cap of $597 million USD.

So Arby’s is buying Wendy’s even though it is worth about one quarter LESS. Those wacky Investment Bankers sure know how to do the strange and seemingly impossible.  

I don’t really eat this kind of fast food and I have no idea if these two brands will make a successful marriage. All I know is that I’m getting hot and can use a Frosty.  Maybe I can offer 25% of the listed price, or 3 curly fries instead of cash…..

Bloomberg has an article this morning detailing Microsoft’s reaction to Yahoo!’s earning results reported last night. 

Essentially, Microsoft stated that it will not be raising its bid to aquire Yahoo, even though the company came through with decent earnings. Good. Great. Super. Now all we need are the Yahoo shareholders to reject this offer.

Yahoo’s board of directors is recommending that this hostile takeover is rejected. Normally, I think board of directors are full of it, but I  do agree with this opinion.

Microsoft would ruin Yahoo. It’s not really because they would want to ruin them, I’m sure they have some great ideas that make complete business sense. The problem is that Microsoft has already become too big. The entire company can easily be compared to the disaster that is Vista. Vista, for those fortunate enough to not be aware of, is Microsoft’s newest operating system. It is slow, bloated, frustrating and seemingly has a split personality.

A merged Microsoft/Yahoo offering would be equally bloated, frustrating and definitely possessing a split personality. The thought of Microsoft’s marketing team frothing at the mouth over the cross marketing potential of the world’s #1 website makes my stomach turn. For Yahoo! shareholders, it should make yours too.

Vote No. Vote often.

I really thought this was a joke when I read it this morning. Blockbuster bids $1.35 Billion to buy Circuit City. I don’t need to look over any financial statements or look at any charts to know this is probably the dumbest merger idea so far this year.

 

In one corner you have Blockbuster, a dying company in a dying industry. Brick and mortar movie rentals are on the way out, On-demand/On-line are in. Then there’s Circuit City, a supposed big box store that also has small retail outlets, poor sales and poor profits.

 

So why do these companies want to merge? Convergence.

 

Yes, convergence, that happy go lucky buzz word of the early 2000s that resulted in the death of AOL. The only thing these two businesses have in common to converge on is that they both have failing models and stupid ignorant executives. Go figure.