Michael Callahan

Yahoo Sues Facebook for Patent Infringement, Which Social Network Calls “Puzzling” (Including Filing)

Kara Swisher in News on March 12 at 1:15 pm PT

In what is either the boldest gamble of its history or the most boneheaded, Yahoo has filed a massive legal attack against the powerful social networking giant for intellectual property violations.

Yahoo and Microsoft Deal Progress "Meaningful"–Plus the Deal Team Rosters

Kara Swisher in News on May 4, 2009 at 7:11 pm PT

Recently, BoomTown reported that talks between Microsoft and Yahoo had gotten “hot and heavy.” That mood seems to be continuing, as many sources close to the situation on both sides said that the pair are coming ever closer to a search and advertising partnership deal. “It’s meaningful,” said one source. “The fact that there is even progress and engagement, after so many failed attempts between us, says a lot.” Indeed, there seems to be a lot of engagement between the two sides of late, and some sources think a deal could even be struck within the next few weeks.

The Yahoo Management Structure: Who Is In and Who Is Out?

Kara Swisher in News on February 23, 2009 at 7:30 am PT

On Friday, BoomTown first reported that new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is likely to be announcing a sweeping new management structure soon, which can only mean the possibility that some existing top execs are likely to be broomed out, even as some new ones are ushered in. “This is going to be a full-scale peanut butter recall,” joked one exec, referring to the infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which was sent around the company several years ago by former exec Brad Garlinghouse. It laid bare the problems at Yahoo, most especially a decided lack of decision-making and lugubrious levels of managers. Here is the sticky skinny.

Yahooglesoft Lawyers Speak!

Kara Swisher in News on July 16, 2008 at 5:59 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown went to Washington, D.C. to see lawyers from Microsoft, Yahoo and Google face off in Senate hearings about the controversial search advertising outsourcing deal recently struck between Yahoo and Google. Here’s a video of BoomTown chatting up Google’s Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, Microsoft’s General Counsel Brad Smith and Michael Callahan, general counsel for Yahoo, right after the Senate hearings were over.

Kara Visits the Senate Hearings on the Yahoo-Google Ad Search Deal

Kara Swisher in News on July 15, 2008 at 9:21 am PT

Sitting at the Senate hearings about the Yahoo-Google ad search deal this morning in Washington, D.C., let it first be said that BoomTown is deeply dubious of whether that it is a good thing for consumers and advertisers, as both Internet companies have asserted. But this was my most certain conclusion: The worst case scenario is actually for politicians to meddle in the Internet space with their largely Web-ignorant mitts. But that’s just me!

Miss BoomTown Goes to Washington (Of Course, for MicroHoo Plus Google)

Kara Swisher in News on July 15, 2008 at 7:00 am PT

Today, BoomTown boards the Acela Express from New York’s Penn Station to D.C.’s Union Station to attend the Senate hearing on the Yahoo agreement with Google to outsource some of its ad search business. Titled rather ominously, “The Google-Yahoo Agreement and the Future of Internet Advertising,” the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights (eek!) will hear testimony at 10:30 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building from a passel of Internet reps, including those from Yahoo, Microsoft and Google.