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Memo to Jerry, Steve and Carl: Just Do It!
Summer is generally a slower time for news and this summer is no exception. But the kind folks at Microsoft, Yahoo and Carl Icahn’s investment firm are charitably offering up a form of entertainment with their ongoing Let’s Make a Deal saga.
The latest installment is a letter to shareholders from Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang that accuses Microsoft of flip-flopping, creating confusion and generally not wanting to make a deal. The letter also also reiterates Yahoo’s desire to sell the entire company at $33 per share — or if that’s not interesting, just the search assets.
Let me tell you, Yahoo, playing hard to get is smart, but this letter is no way to get the guy of your dreams. In fact, rumor has it Microsoft is seeing AOL now, and everyone knows AOL hasn’t always made the best choice in relationships.
This stuff may play well in Silicon Valley, but outside of it the world is not watching. While Kara Swisher dutifully calls her sources and provides us with the ins and outs of the wheeling and dealing, the audience outside the tech world is yawning. This started back in February (2007 if you believe the original offer from Microsoft). Let’s finish this, so the world can really focus on the banking crisis or high gas prices.
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Latest Release Updates iPhone 2.0 Video
MediaMax, a.k.a. TheLinkUp, Is Dead
MediaMax, a San Diego-based startup that allowed you to upload and share big files and create a social network around it, is dead. “We regret to inform you that we will be closing The Linkup service on Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT,” the company wrote on its web site this morning. Good riddance, because it was a brain-dead idea to begin with. More importantly, the company constantly lost users’ data — not a good survival strategy considering data is your business.
The company was first known as Streamload, then MediaMax, then quickly changed its name to TheLinkUp, promising people that their files would automatically move over from MediaMax to TheLinkUp. Changing monikers didn’t quite reverse their fortunes, however, and they remained as clueless as ever. “It was not possible to satisfactorily complete the move of files from MediaMax to The Linkup as we had expected, and as a result cannot offer a service.” No kidding. The users are mad - no surprise there.
Anyway, I expect that dozens of these upload-store-share-backup-type services are going to take a nap in the dirt soon — and if you are using one of them, think twice before trusting them with your information. I would recommend Box.net, Apple’s dot.mac (Mobile Me) and AOL XDrive. I personally use Joyent’s BingoDisk, a for-pay service that meets all of my needs for now.
Gossip Guys: The Microsoft-Yahoo Saga
Remember back in the Dark Ages before text messaging, when a teenager (let’s call him Jerry Yang) might get a best friend (maybe call him Carl Icahn) to call another friend (say, Steve Ballmer) using three-way calling? With Yang sitting silently on the line, the goal would be for Icahn to goad Ballmer into saying how he really felt about Yang. Well, now that we’re adults, and billions of dollars are on the line, all this is done via proxy battles as is the case with the aborted deal for Microsoft, headed by Ballmer, to buy Yahoo, which is headed by Yang.
The whole thing just gets more and more dramatic — the lack of teen girls notwithstanding. Today, Carl Icahn, who holds a large stake in Yahoo, released a letter to Yahoo shareholders where he says he has spent, like, HOURS on the phone with Ballmer, who was still totally interested in Yahoo. But Ballmer’s, like, so worried that Yang and current Yahoo management might “mismanage” the company during the time it takes to get a deal done (because The Federal Trade Commission can take FOREVER, ya know?)
And Ballmer is putting, like, a ton of dough on the line here, so he needs, like, some kind of assurance that Yang and Co. aren’t going to go screw things up. And in the last attempts, he just didn’t get that, ya know? So Ballmer just HAD to walk away, right? But with a different board, you know, like Icahn’s board? Then, maybe Microsoft could forget about the past and get a deal done. In his letter Icahn says:
I strongly believe that in very short order the new board would, subject to its fiduciary duties, be presenting to shareholders either a purchase offer for the whole company or a very attractive offer to purchase “Search” with large guarantees. I hope to continue to be speaking to Steve over the next few weeks; however, since I do not as yet represent the Yahoo! board, both Steve and I do not wish to get into details over price, or even which of these transactions makes the most sense.
So Icahn, who has, like totally, put up his own slate of directors who would work with Ballmer, could really make this deal happen if shareholders would just, you know, LISTEN to him and vote for his board. Totes!
BTW, the whole crew, including Google and AOL guys, will be in Sun Valley this week for the swanky Allen & Co. media conference. It’s like a high-power slumber party where deals get done and the press gets excluded. Maybe Yang will ditch Ballmer and Icahn for Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes who head AOL. Tune in next week for the latest on Gossip Guys.
Update: Microsoft issued its own statement backing Icahn. If Icahn gains control of the board at the Aug. 1 shareholder meeting, Ballmer would talk deals again, either buying just the search assets or possibly the whole company.
Update 2: Yahoo tells Ballmer, “If you want a deal, say that to my face.”
Chad Hurley Tells All: How They Built YouTube
Liz Gannes who edits our NewTeeVee site skipped the company dinner to attend an event where Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube was going to reveal the entire story of YouTube. She caught the entire event on tape, and has the full report, a must see NTV for anyone who loves start-ups.
* If you can show growth such as a traffic hockey stick, your don’t need a PowerPoint to raise VC money.
* However hard you may try, it is hard to predict the future and your future infrastructure needs.
* Know who to sell and most importantly when to fold your hand.
If you wanted to read the story of less known YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, click here. Watch Liz’s video.
Off-Topic: What To Watch This Summer: “Wall-E”
My inner nerd is thrilled at the prospect of Pixar’s upcoming movie “Wall-E.” Rich Greenfield, an analyst with Pali Capital who is typically very stingy with praise is waxing eloquent about the movie after watching the preview. In a note to his clients this morning, he writes:
…Investors have been wary of Wall-E’s box office potential given Pixar’s risky bet on an offbeat main character, who rarely speaks during the film. Nonetheless, the film substantially exceeded our expectations and was well-received by the audience.
We believe Pixar hit the mark, delivering a very rich story in Wall-E.: We see the film appealing to younger children who will be drawn to the quirky but extremely lovable characters (especially Wall-E).
The love story between the two main characters and the presence of a solid female character (Wall-E’s love interest, Eve) should also appeal to girls of all ages. Finally, we believe the film will resonate well with older audiences who will find much to like in Wall-E’s character and antics, the love story and the film’s other messages (e.g. the environment).
Our only concern: There is somewhat less action and the pacing is somewhat more measured.
Looks like this could be Steve Jobs’ other big summer blockbuster hit. Sure he doesn’t run Pixar anymore, but he owns a big portion of Disney. Greenfield expects the movie to make $550 million to $600 million (or more) at the box office worldwide, and says it “should be a solid contributor to Disney’s DVD sales in FY Q1 2009.”
D:Conference: Windows 7 First Look. Bill Gates Finally Funny
It didn’t quite have the sentimental feeling of the Steve Jobs & Bill Gates talk from last year, but it was interesting to see the dynamic of Steve Ballmer & Bill Gates. I think it was great to see Bill step back and let Steve enjoy the limelight, and not take himself too seriously. I think instead of writing about the whole conversation, I am going to share this tiny bit I captured on video that shows how relaxed Gates is feeling these days, now that he has shifted all responsibilities to Ballmer.
Bill was very candid about Vista and its problems. “We never ship a product that I am satisfied with 100 percent” he said. “There is always improvement. Vista gave us lot of opportunities for improvement.” Funny… anyway
What I did find strangely amusing: the Microsoft duo has a tough time using the phrase “Google” and constantly referred to them as the other guys. I really wish I could ask the duo about why they are so obsessed with Online Advertising? Are they acknowledging that all innovation and growth opportunities in applications and operating systems are done? Why not obsess about being the world’s best on-demand software company? Anyway that’s for another day. I picked up some great notes for my post about Search and the competitive landscape.
Now moving on to Windows 7. The company showed off a nice demo of the multi touch features of Windows 7 and how you could paint with your fingers, or open applications and use maps in the new version of Microsoft’s operating system that comes to market sometime in 2009. (More details and videos here.)
I think if you have used iPod Touch, iPhone and Coverflow, you are not going to be as wow-ed by multi-touch, but I have to admit, that even in its rudimentary form, it looked pretty darn good. I have a feeling Apple is going to bring this to market much before Microsoft. Stacey joked about the new features pointing out that the smudging caused by multi-touch would surely make money for companies like 3M.
Anyway more on the conference tomorrow!
Original Post
I have just arrived at the D6 Conference organized by Kara Swisher & Walt Mossberg. I will have an update in an hour or so. Our good friends at D tell us that Bill Gates is going to show off an early version of Windows 7. Now that is something to look forward to and dig into. I have my trusted Sanyo Xaacti in the tow and I will be doing some video updates from here. Given the noise at the conferences, don’t expect stellar quality but hey, it sure beats nothing.
Today’s News from Debbie Downer
I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but everything in the news seems a little depressing, today from Motorola, which saw its handset sales drop by 39 percent in the first quarter and is not expecting to split its businesses until 2009, to news that formal hearings are expected in July for the four music labels suing Irish ISP Eircom. I’m sad over Moto losing its design edge (and not putting touch in its phones until 2009!) and more than a little frustrated at the music labels for pursuing such a case.
Even Steve Ballmer suggesting that Microsoft might keep XP on the shelves with enough “customer feedback” doesn’t inspire me to make any jokes about clapping your hands and saying, “I believe in XP.” I’m hoping a second cup of coffee and a meeting with a bunch of college students to talk about blogging will make life seem a bit more fun.
