Masayoshi Son

Tech Leaders Make Forbes’ Most Powerful People List

Tricia Duryee in Enterprise on November 5, 2011 at 11:21 am PT

Forbes has compiled a list of the 70 most powerful individuals, and along with some of the world’s leading politicians and religious leaders, tech leaders made a strong showing.

More Yahoo Deal Scenarios Keep the Goat Rodeo Going Strong!

Kara Swisher in News on November 9, 2010 at 8:29 am PT

If wishes were horses, as the old proverb goes, all beggars would ride. Or, in the case of the incessant corporate drama around Yahoo: If wishes were deals, all bankers would get big fat fees. Even BoomTown has been harboring a big wish that there were some new scenario–instead of the same retreads that have been bandied about for more than a month–that was at least possible. But because making up scenarios about the fate of Yahoo is all fun and games, it goes on and on and on.

Yahoo's Stock Acts Like It's in Play–Because It Kind of Is, as Predators Circle

Kara Swisher in News on October 13, 2010 at 3:34 pm PT

Make no mistake–there are no definitive offers on the table to do a variety of takeover deals of Yahoo by either private equity moneybags or from big media giants such as News Corp. or smaller Web firms such as AOL. But that does not mean that major players are not circling Yahoo and assessing the situation aggressively, a fact reflected in the rise in the Internet giant’s stock price today based on the many rumors swirling around it. Yahoo shares were up almost six percent to close at $15.25, a high of late. The stock is up to $16.20 in after-hours trading.

Could AOL Merge With Yahoo? Could News Corp. Make a Play? Takeover 2.0 With a Little Help From China's Alibaba?

Kara Swisher in News on September 30, 2010 at 11:54 am PT

Today, as news of the departure of Yahoo’s U.S. head Hilary Schneider and two other top execs got around Wall Street, investors and dealmakers were actually thinking of things other than executive turmoil. As in: Does the uncertainty, along with a naggingly lackluster stock price and weak growth, create pressure on its CEO Carol Bartz and its board to do something dramatic? In addition, does the messy public situation even provide an opportunity to put Yahoo into play, despite its market cap of $19 billion?

Here Comes the Yahoo Spin Cycle–So Try BoomTown's Soap-Free Guide to What's Actually Happening

Kara Swisher in News on September 30, 2010 at 12:53 am PT

Here’s how Yahoo’s top brass and board–with the help of its newly re-engaged crisis-management PR firm, Abernathy MacGregor–are already trying to spin the latest executive turmoil to hit the company: Trashing those on the way out, to take focus off those remaining who have been just as responsible for driving the Internet icon, and claiming that this is all part of yet another well-planned reorganization at Yahoo. Don’t believe most of it for a second. Some of it is corporate politics as usual, some of it rejiggering of events, some just not true at all.

Apparently Yahoo's Bartz Didn't Get the Memo About Avoiding Land Wars in Asia

Kara Swisher in News on September 16, 2010 at 9:02 am PT

How can BoomTown put this as delicately as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz would? How about this: Her actions in regard to the Internet giant’s Asian relationships are about as bad as it gets these days. After losing Yahoo Japan’s search and online advertising business to Google last month, followed by the loss of a major South Korean site’s search business, Yahoo is poised for a third strike with its partner in China, the Alibaba Group. Sources close to the company said it is likely Alibaba will either partner with another search technology for sites that are now powered by Yahoo or build it internally.

Google Says Pending Search Dominance in Japan Has Not Riled Regulators. But Maybe It Should.

Kara Swisher in News on July 27, 2010 at 8:50 am PT

If at first you don’t succeed, at least according to Google…try Japan. In what amounts to an even more aggressive move than it made in trying–and failing due to regulatory objection–to strike a search partnership deal with Yahoo in the U.S. in 2008, Google and Yahoo Japan announced yesterday that the search giant will take over both the algorithmic and paid search businesses, giving the pair a more than 90 percent combined market share in the Asian nation. Google said Japanese regulators have no problem with the deal. Reaaaaaaallllly?

Googzilla! Yahoo Japan Confirms Google Switch From Yahoo for Both Paid and Algo Search

Kara Swisher in News on July 26, 2010 at 11:44 pm PT

As BoomTown reported earlier today, Yahoo Japan confirmed it would switch its search technology and paid search provider to Google from Yahoo. The move is a definite blow to Yahoo’s new search and advertising alliance with Microsoft, although Yahoo sought to minimize the damage in a statement. But make no mistake, given the huge Japanese market: It’s Googzilla totally wiping the floor with MicroHooSoftra.

Exclusive: Is Yahoo Japan Poised to Switch to Google Search?

Kara Swisher in News on July 26, 2010 at 3:53 pm PT

In what would be a stunning blow to the massive search alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo, Google is apparently zeroing in on a deal to grab the algorithmic search business for Yahoo Japan, said several sources. The agreement between Yahoo Japan–which is an independent company–and the U.S. search giant could be announced as early as today in Japan, sources said, and could be part of a larger deal between the two companies around mobile or other products. If they join together, the pair will control almost the entire market share of search in the Japanese market. Paid search is apparently not part of this deal at this time.

Tell Me Again Why the iPhone Will Never Do Well in Japan?

John Paczkowski in Mobile on April 23, 2010 at 10:03 am PT

And people said the iPhone would never be big in Japan. According to a new survey from the MM Research Institute, Apple’s iconic smartphone has captured 72.2 percent of the Japanese smartphone market.